ITALY — The death toll in Italy due to the coronavirus nearly doubled overnight.
In the past 24 hours, the country's Civil Protection agency says they have had an additional 133 deaths, bringing the total number of fatal cases to 366.
Italy’s total known number of COVID-19 cases also crept past that of South Korea, making it the country with the second-highest number of infections after China.
Italian government authorities say the country now has 7,375 cases. That is 62 more than South Korea.
China has more than 80,000 cases.
Early in the outbreak, Italy was zealous in testing those living in hotbed areas, even if they had no symptoms or close contact with someone known to be infected. So far, Italian health personnel have performed some 50,000 tests.
Most of Italy’s deaths and cases have occurred in Lombardy, a populous northern region which the government ordered under lockdown Sunday until April 3.
