Italy reports 433 more coronavirus deaths – the lowest figure in a week taking the country’s total to 23,660
- Italy’s official daily death toll from coronavirus has dropped down slightly to 433
- Country’s total number of deaths now stands at 23,660 – second only to the US
- Italy reported 3,047 new infections, which represented a rise of just 1.7 per cent
- Today’s fatalities figure was the second lowest daily amount reported in a month
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
Italy’s official daily death toll from coronavirus edged down to 433 today, the lowest figure in a week.
The total number of deaths reported by the civil protection services since the start of Italy’s health crisis in February now stands at 23,660 – second only to the United States.
Sunday’s fatalities figure was the second lowest in one month. The 3,047 new virus infections represented a rise of just 1.7 per cent to a total of 178,972.
The new infections rate is being watched close by Italian government as it deliberates on how to exit a lockdown imposed over the first half of March.
Red Cross staff wearing personal protective equipment transporting a seriously ill elderly patient suffering from coronavirus in Turin today
The current restrictions are due to be lifted on May 4, and the government is trying to determine which businesses to allow to resume operations, and whether to let people out of their homes.
The death toll as reported by Italy’s Civil Protection Agency had risen by 482 on Saturday, down from 575 on Friday.
The daily tallies of deaths and cases extend the broadly stable situation in place over the last two weeks.
This plateau is down considerably from peaks reached around the end of March, but the downtrend has not proceeded as fast as was hoped in a country that has been in lockdown for six weeks.
Sunday’s number of deaths marked the lowest daily rise since April 12, when it came in at 431, before rising again during the week.
An elderly patient who has recovered from coronavirus being helped by a Red Cross member of staff wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) as he returned to his home in Turin today
Should the decline be confirmed in the next few days it would add to pressure on the Rome government from business leaders and some regional chiefs to let companies reopen and lift restrictions on people’s movement.
The nationwide lockdown, which was imposed on March 9, will be in force until May 3, but there is not yet any clear plan over to what extent, or how gradually, it will be lifted.
Luca Zaia, the head of the northern Veneto region, which has made particular progress in bringing the outbreak under control, has called for restrictions to be relaxed before May 3.
However, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said late on Saturday that Italy was not yet in a position to loosen the lockdown and ruled out the possibility that some regions could be allowed to reopen before others.
An almost empty street, during a lockdown against the spread of coronavirus disease in Milan
Medical experts have urged caution, saying Italy is still in the first stage of the emergency and cannot yet move to a so-called ‘Phase 2’.
‘It’s way too early, the numbers in some regions are still very much those of a Phase 1 that has not ended yet,’ World Health Organization official Walter Ricciardi told Sky Italia TV.
The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on February 21 rose to 23,660 on Sunday, the second highest in the world after that of the United States. Total confirmed cases stood at 178,972.
The outbreak remains heavily concentrated in the northern regions of Lombardy, around the financial capital Milan, and neighbouring Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna.
Lombardy on Sunday reported a daily increase in the number deaths of 163, or more than a third of the total, and 855 new cases.
The worldwide virus death toll has also risen to 160,000 today – with more than two million cases declared across the globe.
More than 100,000 of the total global cases have passed away in Europe alone, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.