Health officials in Italy have confirmed a further 427 deaths from Covid-19, pushing the country’s overall death toll to 3,405. The figure overtakes the number of total deaths in China from the outbreak.
The latest deaths in Italy are a slight decrease on the previous 24-hour period, in which a record 475 people died in one day from the rapidly-spreading virus.
The outbreak was first recorded in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019, and has since spread around the world at an alarming rate, infecting over 236,000 people and causing more than 9,800 deaths. Of those deaths, 3,245 were recorded in China.
Earlier, the Italian army was called in to help transport dead bodies in Bergamo as the wider Lombardy region continues to struggle with the impact of the deadly coronavirus.
