Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte enforced an economically crippling shut down in early March to counter a pandemic that has so far killed more than 31,500 people in Italy.

The shutdown halted all holidaymaking in a country heavily dependent on the tourism industry.

Although Italy never formally closed its borders and has allowed people to cross back and forth for work or health reasons, it banned movement for tourism and imposed a two-week isolation period for new arrivals.

Beginning on June 3, all visitors will be allowed in with no obligation to self-isolate. Italians will also be able to move between regions, though local authorities can limit travel if infections spike.

Movements to and from abroad can be limited by regional decree “in relation to specific states and territories, in accordance with the principles of adequacy and proportionality to the epidemiological risk”, the government said, AFP reported.

The latest decree is also a boon to Italy’s agricultural sector, which relies on roughly 350,000 seasonal workers from abroad.

Farming lobby group Coldiretti said farms were already preparing to organize some 150,000 workers from places including Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria.

The peak of Italy’s contagion passed at the end of March but with experts warning a second wave cannot be ruled out, Conte had been reluctant to lift the lockdown quickly.

His approach frustrated many of Italy’s regions, with some already allowing businesses to reopen before the restrictions were lifted.

Restaurants, bars, and hairdressers are being allowed to reopen on Monday, two weeks earlier than initially planned.

Shops will also open and Italians will finally be able to see friends, as long as they live within their same region.

Church services will begin again but the faithful will have to follow social distancing rules and holy water fonts will be empty. Mosques will also reopen.

Gatherings of large groups are still banned.

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The lockdown, closing most Italian businesses and preventing people from leaving their homes for all but essential needs, has been in place since March 9, putting a major strain on the euro zone’s third-largest economy.

“I wish I could say: let’s reopen everything. Immediately. We start tomorrow morning … But such a decision would be irresponsible. It would make the contagion curve go up in an uncontrolled way and would nullify all the efforts we have made so far,” Mr. Conte wrote in a Facebook post.

“We must act on the basis of a national (reopening) plan, which however takes into account the territorial peculiarities.”

After the government shuttered businesses not deemed essential to the supply chain on March 22, calls have recently been growing from industry lobbies to reopen some activities to prevent an economic catastrophe.

Italy’s Treasury expects the economy to contract by around 8 percent this year, two sources close to the matter told Reuters on Monday, underscoring the negative impact of the nationwide restrictions.

Mr. Conte said the easing of restrictions would happen on the basis of a thorough study and scientific data and not to “satisfy a part of public opinion or to satisfy the requests of some product categories, individual companies or specific regions”.

“The easing brings with it the real risk of a decided increase in the contagion curve and we must be prepared to contain this ascent to the minimum levels so that the risk of contagion is ‘tolerable’,” he added.

Such a plan would not only ensure that companies followed the necessary safety precautions at work, but that is also considered the flow of workers such as opening would generate and its impact on public transport, especially during peak times.

“The easing of the measures must take place on the basis of a well-structured and articulated plan,” he added.

The number of new COVID-19 cases dropped to 2,256 on Monday, the lowest level in well over a month, the Civil Protection Agency said.

The total death toll stood at 24,114, the second-highest in the world after that of the United States.

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