MILAN: Italy reported 118 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 79 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections jumped to 20,497 from 12,527.

Italy has registered 134,669 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 5.18 million cases to date.

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Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 6,483 Friday, up from 6,333 a day earlier.

There were 76 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 69 on Thursday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 816 from a previous 811.

Some 716,287 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 312,828, the health ministry said.