Italy reported 331 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday against 344 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 15,746 from 17,567 the day before.

Italy has registered 114,254 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 3.77 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 27,251 on Sunday, down from 27,654 a day earlier.

There were 175 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 186 on Saturday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 3,585 from a previous 3,588.

Some 253,100 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 320,892, the health ministry said.