MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. The number of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours has reached 542, showing a slight decrease compared to the previous day, Italy's Head of Civil Protection Angelo Borrelli stated on Wednesday.
The total number of COVID-19 victims in Italy has surpassed 17,600. The official informed of 1,195 new cases of infection in the past 24 hours. The number of those recovered has surpassed 26,000.
The total amount of novel coronavirus cases since the start of the epidemic in Italy has reached 139,422. Yesterday, 135,586 cases were reported.
The Italian media reports that 96 doctors had died from the disease. Yesterday, Giovanni Rezza, director of the infectious disease division of the national health institute, stated that the epidemiological curve in Italy had begun to move on the downward trajectory. He noted that in order to be sure of this trend, Italian researchers need to analyze the data coming in over the next few days.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 1,400,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 82,000 deaths have been reported. That said, over 300,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge said during a briefing on Wednesday that the number of COVID-19 cases in Europe had surpassed 687,000, with 62,000 reported deaths.