ROME: Hopes that Italy's coronavirus epidemic might be in retreat suffered a setback on Thursday (Mar 26) when data showed that both the number of new cases and deaths had ticked higher, underscoring how hard it is to halt the disease.
Officials said 712 people died of the illness in the last 24 hours, pushing the total tally to 8,215, well over double that seen in anywhere else in the world, while new infections rose by 6,153 to 80,539.