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DPA
Rome
ITALY has reported 727 new deaths and a rise in the number of infected people to more than 110,000 in its daily bulletin on the novel coronavirus epidemic. The death toll now stands at 13,155, the Civil Protection Agency said.
Total infections, including recoveries and deaths, have reached 110,574, a 4.5-per-cent daily increase that compares with a 4-per-cent change registered on Tuesday. Italian health authorities have said that the contagion curve has reached “a plateau,” and that more efforts will be needed to bring it down.
Speaking in the Senate, Health Minister Roberto Speranza warned against “facile optimism that may undermine the efforts made: the first positive signals do not mean that the alarm is over.” As he spoke, he confirmed that national lockdown measures due to expire on April 3 would be extended through to April 13, or Easter Monday.
Schools are shut, most shops and factories are closed, public gatherings are banned and people are under orders to stay home unless for work, emergencies and unavoidable errands like buying food.
The northern Lombardy region that includes the financial capital Milan turned into the global epicentre of the pandemic when Italy overtook China’s official death toll on March 19.
Lombardy is Italy’s industrial heartland and includes heavily-affected cities such as Bergamo and Brescia to Milan’s east. The region has 10 million people and recorded 99,542 deaths from all causes in 2018 -- a rough monthly average of 8,300.
It reported 7,176 coronavirus deaths in March.
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02/04/2020
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