Italy reports 50 more coronavirus deaths, 3,525 new cases

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy reported 50 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, compared to 52 the day before, the health ministry said, and the daily tally of new infections fell to 3,525 from 3,797.

Italy has registered 130,653 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.66 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 3,497 on Saturday, down from 3,553 a day earlier.

There were 26 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 35 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 481 from 489 previously.

Some 357,491 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with the previous daily tally of 277,508, the health ministry said.

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari, Editing by Timothy Heritage)