MILAN (Reuters) – Italy reported 44 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, down from 83 the day before and the lowest figure since mid-October, while the daily tally of new infections also dropped to 2,949 from 3,351, the health ministry said.
Italy has registered 126,046 deaths linked 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 reported 4.216 million cases to date.
The number of deaths is often lower on a Sunday but the latest figure confirms a declining trend. People reported dead due to COVID-19 stood at 72 last Sunday and 93 a week before that, down from 139 on Sunday May 9.
The number of patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – totalled 6,591 on Sunday, down from 6,800 a day earlier.
There were 27 new admissions to intensive care units, little changed from 29 on Saturday. The total number of intensive care patients stood at 1,061 from 1,095.
Only 164,495 tests for COVID-19 were carried out on Sunday, sharply down from 247,330 the day before, the ministry said.
Separately on Sunday, the health ministry said it had extended to June 21 the current ban on travellers arriving from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Jane Merriman)
