The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Italy has leapt by 793 to 4825 - by far the largest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion emerged a month ago.
Nuns wearing face masks stand inside the closed Monumental Cemetery of Bergamo, Lombardy during the country's lockdown. Photo: AFP
The new deaths represent an increase of 19.6 percent. On Friday, Italy overtook China as the country to register most deaths from the highly-contagious virus.
The total number of cases in Italy rose to 53,578 from a previous 47,021, an increase of 13.9 percent, the Civil Protection Agency said.
The hardest-hit northern region of Lombardy remains in a critical situation, with 3095 deaths and 25,515 cases.
Of those originally infected nationwide, 6072 had fully recovered today, compared to 5129 the day before. There were 2857 people in intensive care against a previous 2655.