The death toll worldwide due to the deadly Coronavirus reached 12,836 by Saturday night. Italy crossed China with a current death toll of 4,825. The country on Saturday reported 793 new coronavirus deaths, a one-day record.
The total number of fatalities in the northern Lombardy regions around Milan surpassed 3,000. It accounts for nearly two-thirds of Italy's fatalities. Italy has reported 1,420 deaths since March 20, a grim figure that suggests the pandemic is breaking through the government's various containment and social distancing measures.
The Mediterranean nation of 60 million has been under an effective lockdown since March 12, when public gatherings were banned and most stores shuttered. Police were out in force across the streets of Rome, checking documents and fining those outside without a valid reason, such as buying groceries.
Joggers were asked to run around the block of their houses, parks and beaches were closed, and the government in Rome prepared to extend the school and other closures into the summer months.
The figures released Saturday showed deaths still largely contained to Italy's richer north, whose world-class healthcare system is creaking but still not breaking. But it is much better than what is available in the poorer south, whose regions have registered a few dozen deaths each -- and which the government in Rome is watching closely.
The Lazio region that includes Rome has recorded a total of 50 deaths and 1,190 infections.
