ITALY HIT BY 900 DEATHS FROM VIRUS IN JUST ONE DAY
ITALY has recorded 919 deaths in a single day due to coronavirus — the largest number of deaths in a single day since the pandemic began.
The figure means the total death toll has surged to 9,134, the country’s Civil Protection Agency said on Friday.
The previous largest daily toll was on March 21, when 793 people died.
The 919 people who died over the last 24 hours compares with 712 deaths on Thursday, 683 on Wednesday, 743 on Tuesday and 602 on Monday.
The total number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 86,498 from a previous 80,539, taking Italy’s total past that of China, where the coronavirus epidemic emerged at the end of last year.
The Italian authorities said 10,950 previously infected people had fully recovered on Friday, a rise of 581 from 10,361 the day before.
There were also 3,732 people in intensive care against a previous 3,612.
The northern region of Lombardy remains the hardest-hit area of the country and reported a steep rise in fatalities compared with the day before.
It remains in a critical situation, with a total of 5,402 of the total deaths and 37,298 cases reported by Friday.
That compared with 4,861 deaths and 34,889 cases reported up until Thursday.
Friday’s cumulative death toll included 50 fatalities which had actually occurred on Thursday in the northern Piedmont region, but whose notification arrived too late to be included in the official figures for March 26, the Civil Protection Agency said.
This has led to some confusion and means that some media outlets have reported the Friday death toll at 969, rather than 919.
Elsewhere, a surge in coronavirus infections has made the US the hardest-hit nation in the world amid warnings that the pandemic is accelerating in cities like New York, Chicago and Detroit.
The update came as a record $2.2tn (£1.8tn) emergency package neared final approval by Congress to help millions of newly unemployed Americans and struggling companies.
The situation in countries with more fragile healthcare systems grew more dire on Friday. Russia, Indonesia and South Africa all passed the 1,000-infection mark and South Africa began a threeweek lockdown.
India launched a massive programme to help feed day labourers after a lockdown of the country’s
1.3 billion people put them out of work.
In France, a 16-year-old student became the youngest person in the country to die from the virus. Her sister said she was admitted to hospital on Monday after developing a “slight cough” last week, and she died on Tuesday in hospital in Paris.
“We must stop believing that this only affects the elderly,” said the sister. “No one is invincible against this mutant virus.”
France has reported more than 1,600 deaths and 29,000 infections, and on Friday extended its nationwide confinement measures for another two weeks until April 15.
The US, Italy and China account for 46% of the world’s nearly 540,000 infections and more than half of its acknowledged deaths.
Analysts warned that all infection figures could be low for varying reasons. “China numbers can’t be trusted because the government lies,” said American political scientist Ian Bremmer, president of the Euraisa Group think-tank. “US numbers can’t be trusted because the government can’t produce enough tests.”
Spain’s cases increased by 7,800 on Friday to total 64,059.
There were a total of 4,858 deaths, 769 more than a day earlier. The day-on-day increase of infections is slightly lower for the first time since a rapid rise in early March. There was a 8,500 increase reported on Thursday. Spain has the second-highest tally in Europe and fourth in the world.
Spain’s severely strained health service has 9,444 workers infected with Covid-19, a figure Amnesty International said is the highest among countries affected by the outbreak. The number is nearly 15% of Spain’s total cases.
The worldwide death toll climbed to more than 24,000, according to Johns Hopkins University, but more than 124,000 people have recovered, about half in China.