ROME (Reuters) – Italy had 380 coronavirus-related deaths the previous day at 373, 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 in the past day, compared to a previous 372,217, the health ministry said.
Italy has registered 101,564 deaths related to COVID-19 since its outbreak in February last year, the second highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh highest in the world. The country has so far reported about 3.18 million cases.
Patients in the hospital with COVID-19 – not those included in intensive care – rose 23,656 on Friday, up from 23,247 a day earlier.
There were 226 new admissions in intensive care units, up from 266 on Thursday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 2,914 from a previous 2,859.
When Italy’s second wave of the epidemic accelerated rapidly in the first half of November, hospital admissions rose by about 1,000 a day, while occupancy of intensive care increased by about 100 a day.
(Reporting by Giulia Segreti, Edited by Sabina Suzzi)