Italy Reports Nearly 1,000 Covid-19 Deaths, One-day Record

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The number of deaths in Italy from the Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, increased by 919, the civil protection agency said on Friday, March 27th. So far, 9,143 people have died as a result of the epidemic in the country.

This is a record for a single day. It had previously been March 21st, when 793 people died. However, 50 of these are related to Thursday’s deaths in the Piedmont region, which were accounted for on Friday.

In the last few days, the numbers were as follows:

March 23rd: 602
March 24th: 743
March 25th: 683
March 26th: 712
March 27th: 919

Mayor of Milan

The most affected region is Lombardy, where the city of Milan is located. There were 5,402 deaths.

On March 22nd, during an interview with RAI TV, the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, said he had made a mistake when he released a video in late February saying that the city could not stop.

“Many people refer to that video circulating with the title ‘Milan Does Not Stop’. It was February 27th, the video was exploding on the Web, and everyone released it, including me. Right or wrong? Probably wrong,” he told RAI on Sunday, March 22nd.

The peak is yet to come

Coronavirus infections in Italy have not reached their peak, said Silvio Brusaferro, head of the country’s Superior Institute of Health on Friday.

The country’s most recent pandemic figures are 8,215 dead and 80,589 infected. Thursday’s death toll stood at 712 within 24 hours.

“We have not reached the peak and we have not passed it,” Brussaferro said.

However, he said there are indications of a slowdown in the number of people being infected, suggesting the peak is not far off. After that, new cases will begin to drop noticeably.

“Our behavior will influence how steep the drop will be once it starts,” he said, in a reference to the Italians’ compliance with government restrictions on movement.