Italy reports 297 coronavirus deaths on Friday, 24,036 new cases: Reuters News
MILAN (Reuters) - Italy reported 297 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 339 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 24,036 from 22,865 the day before.
Some 378,463 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 339,635, the health ministry said.
Italy has registered 99,271 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 3.02 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 20,374 on Friday, up from 20,157 a day earlier.
There were 222 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 232 on Thursday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 2,525 from a previous 2,475.
When Italy's second wave of the epidemic was accelerating quickly in the first half of November, hospital admissions were rising by about 1,000 per day, while intensive care occupancy was increasing by about 100 per day.
(Reporting by Maria Pia Quaglia, editing by Agnieszka Flak)
