As the number of deaths in the country reached 10,779 and the number of infected neared 100,000, Italian authorities said Sunday they would extend a month-long lockdown to stem the Coronavirus pandemic.
The civil protection service reported another 756 fatalities in the world’s worst-hit nation on Sunday, while the number of officially registered cases of COVID-19 increased by 5,217 to 97,689.
Nevertheless, the daily rise in infections has slowed to 5.6 percent — the lowest rate since Italian officials started tracking cases following the first death on February 21.
In the epicenter of the pandemic, the region around Milan where the number of cases previously increased daily, the number of Italians receiving intensive care remained almost unchanged.
“We are witnessing a slowdown,” University of Milan virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco told the Il Corriere della Sera daily.
“It is not plateau yet, but it is a good sign.”
Italy closed all of its schools at the start of the month and then began gradually imposing a lockdown, tightening it successively until almost all stores were shut on March 12.
