What you need to know
- Apple is to close all of its retail stores this weekend in Italy.
- The entire country has gone into lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.
- Stores will close Saturday and Sunday, March 14-15, and many are also operating limited hours.
Apple is set to close all of its Italian Apple stores this weekend, as the entire country remains locked down due to the coronavirus outbreak.
iMore has confirmed that all 17 stores in the country will close on March 14-15, after @setteBIT noted the closure of all but the Rimini store yesterday.
Earlier this week iMore confirmed that Apple had been forced to cancel all of its Today At Apple sessions throughout the country. From that report:
Twitter user @setteBIT first spotted that Apple seems to have canceled Today At Apple sessions in its Italian stores until at least March 19. iMore can confirm that no Italian Apple stores are currently offering sessions. A website note simply states: "Unfortunately there are no scheduled sessions here. Try selecting an Apple Store."
As @setteBIT noted, the Rimini Apple store was the last to update its status, however, according to the store's website its closure is now confirmed for Saturday and Sunday, March 14-15. Like many other stores, it is also operating reduced hours the rest of this week and into next.
The extent of the reduced hours across the stores is varied, and not all stores are affected on the same days. Whilst many are operating reduced hours all week, some are only operating them today, March 11 and next week.
As mentioned the stores are not running Today At Apple sessions, however, there is still the option to book Genius Bar repairs. Given the country is in lockdown, the impact on Italian customers will likely be limited. If you are at all minded to visit any of Apple's Italian stores, be sure to check the website before you start your journey.
Italy remains one of the hardest-hit countries outside of China amidst the coronavirus outbreak. The most recent death toll was 631, with 168 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day toll since the outbreak started. The number of confirmed cases has also risen to over 10,000, and more than 1,000 cases have been reported in each of the last three days.
