Italy reports 570 new deaths as contagions slow

By Giada Zampano

ROME - Italy on Friday reported 570 more deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of fatalities to 18,849 – the highest worldwide – as both deaths and active infections rates decelerate.

The slowdown in the curve of contagions is confirmed, supporting hopes that the outbreak has reached a plateau and may start a downward phase soon.

Current infections grew 1.4% from Thursday to 98,273 – less than the previous day, when the rise was at 1.7%. The number of recovered people continue to climb to 30,455, while the number of intensive care patients dropped for the seventh consecutive day.

The epicenter of the Italian outbreak remains the northern Lombardy region, which now counts 10,238 victims.

In its ongoing battle to contain the outbreak, the Italian government extended an almost-total lockdown -- which halted most production and business activities in Italy -- until April 13.

Despite mounting pressures to start lifting some of the stringent measures -- at least for key businesses -- Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is expected to announce soon a new extension of the lockdown until May 3.

The main lockdown rules for business and citizens are likely to be maintained, with only a few exceptions that include book and stationery shops, agricultural machinery factories and baby clothing stores, which would be allowed to reopen from April 14.