(Bloomberg) -- Italy is relaxing a measure put in place to fight the coronavirus outbreak after weeks of restrictions on public life.

The country will allow individual parents to take children outside for a walk “close to home,” the Interior Ministry said in statement late Tuesday, describing the decision as a clarification to earlier measures. Previously, such excursions were not permitted.

The move drew immediate criticism from health officials who have been struggling to contain the pandemic, which has claimed 12,428 lives in Italy.

“That is completely crazy and risks jeopardizing all the efforts that Italians are making to contain the virus’s spread,” Giulio Gallera, the health chief for the northern Lombardy region around Milan, the area worst-hit by the virus, said by phone. Gallera urged the central government to reverse the move immediately.

The number of new coronavirus cases in Italy has leveled off at a two-week low, a sign the outbreak in Europe’s virus epicenter may be coming under control.

Italy’s new infections totaled 4,053, civil protection authorities said in Rome on Tuesday. That compares with 4,050 the previous day, the fewest new cases since March 17.

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