Italy coronavirus deaths rise by 431, fewest in more than three weeks

Italy reported 431 new coronavirus deaths in the past day, the fewest in more than three weeks, as declining numbers of intense care patients pointed to a decreasing hardness of the country’s outbreak.

The daily count is the lowest since March 19, when Italy registered 427 dead.

Italy’s new deaths linked to the virus in the last 24 hours compared with 619 the day back. That brings the total number of deaths to 19,899. Italy has had more deaths than any other country in Europe. It was exceeded globally by the United States yesterday. Italy reported 4,092 new cases of the disease, compared with 4,694 a day earlier, civil protection officials said.

The thousands of new cases come as testing surf. The nearly 200,000 tests conducted in the past four days include a fifth of the roughly 1 million total in Italy during the outbreak, according to civil protection figures collected by Bloomberg. Confirmed cases in the country now total 156,363.

In another type of improvement, the number of patients in intensive care dipped for a ninth straight day after having climbed steadily through April 3 to a peak of 4,068.

“The most critical of the first big wave of the epidemic is exhausting itself,” Massimo Galli, the director of infectious diseases at Milan’s Sacco hospital, said in an interview. “Things are going better because fewer people need an intensive care bed.”

On Friday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced he was extending Italy’s nationwide lockdown until May 3, rejecting pressure from businesses and opposition politicians who’ve clamoured to restart the economy. His decision reflected moves across Europe, where many health officials and politicians, hoping to stem a second wave of the pandemic, are warning against letting up on restrictions.