Italy reports record 98 030 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, 148 deaths

Italy reported another fresh record daily tally of COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, with new cases hitting 98 030 against 78 313 a day earlier, the Health Ministry said.

The number of coronavirus-related deaths fell to 148 from 202 on Tuesday.

Italy has registered 137 091 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 5. 85 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 10 578 on Wednesday, up from 10 089 a day earlier.

There were 126 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 119 on Tuesday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1 185 from a previous 1 145.

Some 1.03 million tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, in line with Tuesday’s record, the Health Ministry said.