Italy’s coronavirus death toll has skyrocketed by 899 in just 24 hours bringing the total number of deaths to 10,023.
Fatalities passed the grim milestone on Saturday, with an increase of 889 since the last figures were released on Friday, according to Italy’s Civil Protection Agency.
With 92,472 confirmed cases, Italy appears to have the highest death rate on the planet. Compare it to China, the epicentre of the pandemic, which has a roughly similar number of confirmed cases at 81,999, but under a third as many deaths, at 3,304.
Italy now has the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the world after the United States, which stands at more than 120,000. But the US has a fraction of the deaths, at just over 2,200.
The Italian Army was brought in to ferry coffins out of Bergamo, Northern Italy as its morgue and crematorium struggle to cope with the surge in fatalities from the pandemic.
Italy’s largest daily toll was registered on Friday when 919 people died.
Italy’s Prime Minister today warned the European Union could ‘lose its purpose’ if it fails to respond strongly to coronavirus – after the country saw its worst spike in deaths to date.
Rome and Madrid want the EU to start issuing ‘corona bonds’ – a form of common debt that governments sell on markets to raise money and address individual economic needs.
The entire eurozone is expected to slip into a recession over the coming months.
But Italy is facing the threat of near economic collapse after being the first European country to shutter almost all its businesses on March 12.
Conte warned that EU leaders were in danger of making ‘tragic mistakes’ that ‘leave our children the immense burden of a devastated economy.’
