Italy has hit its highest daily coronavirus death toll yet; 969 people have died in the last 24 hours alone, bringing the nation’s overall death toll from the virus to 9,134 as of Friday — an increase of 11.9 percent in one day.
Newly released data from Italy’s Civil Protection reveals that the country’s death toll from the virus has risen from 8,165 deaths on Thursday to 9,134 on Friday. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases has also risen from 80,539 on Thursday to 86,498 on Friday.
In the last 24 hours alone, an additional 969 people have died in Italy because of the Chinese coronavirus, shattering the nation’s previously held record — 793 people — for the highest daily death toll.
On Thursday, the nation’s overall death toll had exceeded 8,000. And on Friday, that number exceeded 9,000.
“This virus is an invisible, strong, and unknown enemy,” said Italy’s extraordinary commissioner for the emergency, Domenico Arcuri, during a press conference on Friday, according to a report by La Repubblica.
“We can win this war by counting on the sacrifice of all citizens,” he added. “We implore respect for the rules again.”
On Thursday, Attilio Fontana, the governor of Lombardy — Italy’s most infected region with the coronavirus — noted that these numbers have caused him to become “personally worried.”
“Unfortunately, the numbers are not very nice, the number of infected people has increased a bit too much compared to the line of the past few days,” said Fontana. “We will have to evaluate if this is an exceptional fact determined by some particular episode or if this is an increasing trend, which would be a little embarrassing.”
“I do not know if the peak has arrived or if we have missed something, these evaluations are up to the technicians,” he added. “I can only say that I am personally worried.”
On Friday, La Repubblica reported that five more doctors have died in Italy, bringing the nation’s overall coronavirus death toll among healthcare professionals to 46.
Healthcare workers account for roughly one in ten of Italy’s confirmed cases of the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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