(Eagle News) – Italy’s death toll due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has exceeded that of China as virus cases continued to rise dramatically in this European country, becoming the country with the most number of COVID-19 fatalities.
Deaths due to the coronavirus disease in Italy has hit 4,825 which is more than China’s death toll of 3,265, based on data from the information collated by the Johns Hopkins University (JHU).
Italy’s COVID-19 deaths are already more than a third of the total coronavirus deaths globally which rose to over 13,000 as of Sunday, March 22.
Iran was third with the most number of deaths. It recorded 1,556 virus fatalities, followed by Spain with 1,381 deaths, and France with 562 deaths.
The other countries with fatalities of more than 100 are as follows: United States, 340; United Kingdom, 233; Netherlands, 136; and South Korea with 102 deaths.
Italy on Saturday shut all non-essential factories after recording another record coronavirus toll that brought its fatalities to 4,825.
“The decision taken by the government is to close down all productive activity throughout the territory that is not strictly necessary, crucial, indispensable, to guarantee us essential goods and services,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a dramatic late-night TV address.
The 55-year-old Italian leader stressed that groceries and pharmacies would remain open and did not spell out what “indispensable” companies were.
“We will slow down the country’s productive engine, but we will not stop it,” Conte said.
-Elderly told to stay at home-
National Health Institute (ISS) chief Silvio Brusaferro urged the elderly to stay in doors at all times because the average age of Italy’s victims was 78.5.
“If you do not follow all the (government) measures, you make everything more difficult,” Italy’s top medical expert said.
“If you do, we can make this outbreak slow down.”
Italy has notched a rapid succession of records that seemed unimaginable when a retired Italian builder became the first person in Europe to die of the new illness exactly a month ago.
The Mediterranean nation of 60 million on Thursday overtook China as the global epicenter of COVID-19. It has more than 53,500 confirmed coronavirus cases (53,578). Those who recovered were at more than 6,000, or 6,072 to be exact.
(with a report from Agence France Presse)
