Health officials say that 50 per cent of those with COVID-19 who are accepted into intensive care units in Italy are dying, compared with a usual mortality rate of 12 per cent to 16 per cent in such units nationwide.

Italy's Civil Protection chief Angelo Borrelli announced the latest number of cases, bringing the total number of people with the new coronavirus to 24,747. The number of deaths increased by 368 to 1,809.