Night clubs have been closed in Italy since 30 December.

Italy's night clubs, discos and dance halls are to reopen on Friday 11 February, following a closure of six weeks, amid an easing of covid restrictions.

The venues have been completely shut since 30 December when the government ordered their closure to combat a surge of new covid cases fuelled by the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The clubs had been due to reopen on 31 January but the closure was extended by a further 10 days as part of updated covid restrictions announced on 1 February.

On Thursday, deputy health minister Andrea Costa told RAI 3 television programme Agorà that the ministry's ordinance keeping discos shut "will not be renewed today, this means that from tomorrow they will reopen".

Costa also said that covid restrictions, including those relating to the Green Pass, would be eased further in March, reports news agency ANSA.

When clubs reopen this weekend, in time for Valentine's Day, access will only be given to those with the "reinforced" or "Super" Green Pass, reports Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Italy is still operating a two-tiered Green Pass system, with the "basic" version of the pass available via testing negative for covid, alongside the so-called "Super" version which can only be obtained by those who are vaccinated or have recovered from covid.

It will be necessary to wear a mask indoors, except on the dance floor, as well as outdoors whenever it is not possible to respect an interpersonal distance of 1 metre, according to Italian media reports.

Clubs will be permitted to operate up to a maximum capacity of 50 per cent indoors and 75 per cent outdoors.

One of the sectors hit hardest by the covid pandemic, night clubs in Italy have been closed for much of the last two years.

They were open for one month in the summer of 2020, from 15 July to 15 August, for venues that had outdoor space, and then two months, from 15 October to 18 December, in 2021.

Tomorrow's reopening of discos comes as Italy drops the nationwide requirement to wear masks outdoors, unless in crowded areas, from 11 February.

For official information about the covid-19 situation in Italy (in English) see the health ministry website.