Italy reported 423 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday against 431 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 24,935 from 23,059 the day before.

Some 353,737 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 369,084, the health ministry said.

Italy has registered 103,855 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 3.3 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 26,694 on Thursday, up from 26,517 a day earlier.

There were 249 new admissions to intensive care units, compared with 324 on Wednesday. The total number of intensive care patients slightly increased to 3,333 from a previous 3,317.

When Italy’s second wave of the epidemic was accelerating quickly in the first half of November, hospital admissions were rising by about 1,000 per day, while intensive care occupancy was increasing by about 100 per day.