Italy reports 919 virus deaths in one day

The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in Italy has surged by 919 in one day, with 9,134 patients now having lost their lives.

This is the highest daily tally since the outbreak began on 21 February.

Prior to the latest figure, the largest daily toll was registered on 21 March, when 793 people died.

The 919 people who died over the last 24 hours compares with 712 deaths on Thursday, 683 on Wednesday, 743 on Tuesday and 602 on Monday.

The total number of confirmed cases rose to 86,498 from a previous 80,539, taking Italy's total past that of China, where the coronavirus epidemic emerged at the end of last year.

The United States already surpassed China's tally of cases on Thursday.

In Italy, of those originally infected nationwide, 10,950 had fully recovered Friday, compared to 10,361 the day before. There were 3,732 people in intensive care against a previous 3,612.

Earlier, the national health institute (ISS) had cautiously suggested lockdown measures to curb the spread of the disease may soon bear fruit.


Dhaka/Nasim