More than 70,000 businesses closed in Italy due to COVID-19 pandemic

Almost 73,000 businesses have closed in Italy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study by national statistic agency Istat.

The figure represents roughly 7 per cent of a total of 1 million businesses surveyed between late October and early November, Istat said in a statement.

Some 55,000 businesses expected to reopen in the future, while 17,500 - including 5,000 eateries - closed for good. In addition, 700,000 were operating normally and 244,000 were only partially open.

According to Istat, 85 per cent of shuttered businesses were small enterprises employing fewer than nine people - typically sports centres, small hotels, retail stores and betting shops.

Istat also said that more than two-thirds of business reported a year-on-year loss of turnover in June-October and 61.5 per cent expected more losses in December-February.

Furthermore, around 42 per cent of businesses were making use of government furlough schemes for staff, down from 70 per cent in May, when Italy was under national lockdown.

Italy is one of the countries worst affected by the pandemic. With a population of 60 million, it has recorded more than 1.8 million coronavirus infections and around 64,500 deaths linked to Covid-19.