Italy reports 51 coronavirus deaths on Saturday, 4,578 new cases

ROME (Reuters) – Italy reported 51 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday against 66 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose marginally to 4,578 from 4,552.

Italy has registered 130,284 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 4.63 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 3,958 on Saturday, down from 3,989 a day earlier.

There were 31 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 34 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 519 from a previous 525.

Some 355,933 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 284,579, the health ministry said.