MILAN: Italy reported 85 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday against 83 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 12,448 from 10,047.

Italy has registered 133,415 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.95 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 4,629 on Wednesday, up from 4,597 a day earlier.

There were 49 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 61 on Tuesday. The total number of intensive care patients rose to 573 from a previous 560.

Some 562,505 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 689,280, the health ministry said.