ROME (Reuters) – Italy reported 380 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday compared to 373 the previous day, the health ministry said, while the daily count of new infections rose to 26,824 from 25,673 the previous day.
About 369,636 tests for COVID-19 were performed the day before, compared with 372,217 earlier, the ministry of health said.
Italy has recorded 101,564 COVID-19-related deaths since its outbreak in February last year, the second highest number of deaths in Europe after Great Britain and the seventh largest in the world. The country has reported about 3.18 million cases to date.
Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – were 23,656 on Friday, down from 23,247 the previous day.
There were 226 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 266 on Thursday. The total number of patients in intensive care has increased to 2,914 from 2,859 previous.
When the second wave of the epidemic in Italy was accelerating rapidly in the first half of November, hospital admissions were increasing by about 1,000 a day, while intensive care occupation was increasing by about 100 a day.
(Reporting by Giulia Segreti, edited by Sabina Suzzi)