There were 482 deaths related to coronavirus over the last 24 hours in Italy, with almost half those in Lombardy, but the intensive care and hospital admissions continue to drop.
The latest Government decree ordering a shutdown will expire on May 3 and it is widely believed that date will mark the entry into Phase 2 of this pandemic.
Since Friday evening, the death toll was 482, the lowest figure for weeks, although it does take the total now to 23,227.
There were 482 deaths related to coronavirus over the last 24 hours in Italy, with almost half those in Lombardy, but the intensive care and hospital admissions continue to drop.
The latest Government decree ordering a shutdown will expire on May 3 and it is widely believed that date will mark the entry into Phase 2 of this pandemic.
Since Friday evening, the death toll was 482, the lowest figure for weeks, although it does take the total now to 23,227.
The average age of those who have died after contracting the illness was 80, with 82 per cent of them having at least two other conditions.
Once again, the number of patients in intensive care dropped by 79 to just 2,733, while there are 25,007 in hospital.
This has taken the pressure off the healthcare system, so 2,200 were released from hospital or given the all-clear during self-isolation, a total now of 44,927.
Testing has been ramped up in the Peninsula with 61,725 swabs taken in the last 24 hours alone.
There are 80,031 people who tested positive and are self-isolating, as they do not have symptoms serious enough to require hospital treatment.
Lombardy remains the epicentre of this pandemic in Italy, as of the total 23,277 deaths, 12,050 of those were in this region.
That includes 199 deaths out of the 482 nationally since yesterday.