The Mayor of Milan on Friday condemned the violation of heath guidelines by residents following Italy's easing of its COVID-19 restrictions.

The mayor rebuked residents who were captured on television footage gathered in crowds socializing and ignoring regulations aimed at curbing further spread of the disease.

Italy begun loosening its COVID-19 lockdown restrictions on Monday, allowing some businesses to reopen and giving people more freedom to move about.

"Yesterday's images from along the Navigli were disgraceful," Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, said in an online address.

"Either things change today, or tomorrow I'll be here in Palazzo Marino and I'll pass measure to close the Navigli, I'll stop takeaway services and then you can explain to the people who work in bars why the mayor isn't allowing them to do business," he said.

"This isn't a game, we can't allow this in a city of 1.4 million inhabitants," he said.

Italy is one of the hardest hit countries globally by the COVID-19 pandemic, having registered more than 215,000 infections and close to 30,000 deaths.

The country has however seen a decline in the number of daily new infections and deaths, but health authorities warn that the country is not yet out of the woods.

Sala's message was echoed by the head of the National Health Institute, Silvio Brusaferro, who said the epidemic was not yet over.

"The virus hasn't changed its identity, it's transmitted in the same way ... if we form gatherings and break the rules that have given our health system some breathing space then this will allow it to circulate again," Brusaferro said.