The death toll on one day accounted for 25 per cent of the country’s 1,809 deaths so far.

Italy is the country with the highest proportion of senior citizens in Europe, and they account for almost 25 per cent of the country’s population. Those aged 65 years or more are considered a risk group for infection and death from the new strain of the coronavirus.

The last 24 hours also saw the number of confirmed new cases jump by 3,590, taking the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases to 24,747 in Italy

The public health ministry said that 40 patients had been transferred to other regions since many patients are dying due to a lack of intensive care facilities while health systems in Lombardy and in other regions such as Emilia Romagna and Veneto were pushed to their limits.