Italy’s coronavirus death toll, new cases drop sharply

The death toll and number of new COVID-19 cases in Italy dropped sharply on Sunday as the nation prepared to ease  its strict lockdown imposed amid the pandemic, Reuters reports. 

The Civil Protection Agency announced 174 new deaths in Italy on Sunday, a steep drop from the 474 announced on Saturday, according to the news outlet.   

Sunday’s death toll marks the smallest number of fatalities since March 10, Reuters noted, adding that the number of new cases reported on Sunday also declined to 1,389 from 1,900 one day earlier.  

Saturday’s jump in the daily death toll reportedly appeared to be due to hundreds of deaths in the northern Lombardy region in April that had not previously been recorded. 

Italy is preparing to gradually ease its lockdown, which has been in place for eight weeks, on Monday.

Italy is one of the hardest hit nations by the pandemic, with 210,717 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 28,884 fatalities nationwide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.