Italy reported 467 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, down from 541 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 15,204 from 10,593.
Some 293,770 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, against a previous 257,034, the health ministry said.
Italy has now registered 86,889 deaths linked to COVID-19 since last February, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the sixth-highest in the world. The country has reported 2.501 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 21,161 on Wednesday, compared with 21,355 a day earlier.
There were 115 new admissions to intensive care units, against 162 the day before. The total number of intensive care patients stood at 2,352, down from 2,372 on Tuesday.
When Italy's second wave of the epidemic was accelerating quickly in the first half of November, hospital admissions were rising by about 1,000 per day, while intensive care occupancy was increasing by about 100 per day.
(Reporting by Gavin Jones' Editing by Crispian Balmer)
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