Italy once again reported the highest single-day death toll for any country since the coronavirus outbreak sparked: 627 deaths

Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images

Medical personnel transport a COVID-19 patient to an ICU tent in Cremona, near Milan, Italy.

• Italy on Friday reported 627 coronavirus deaths: That's the largest single-day jump in the four weeks since the COVID-19 outbreak began in the European nation.
• Just two days prior, Italy confirmed 475 deaths, which was then the highest death toll reported in one day by any country since the coronavirus outbreak first began.
• On Thursday, when Italy's death toll was 3,405, it overtook China as the country with the most coronavirus deaths.
• So far, the virus has infected 47,021 people in Italy and killed a total of 4,032 others.
• The country of 60 million people is on lockdown and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said it's likely that the quarantine will be extended past the original end-date of April 3.
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Italy on Friday reported 627 deaths from the coronavirus in one day, which marks the hard-hit European nation's largest single-day jump.

This death toll surpassed a calamitous milestone Italy had set only two days prior with 475 deaths, which was until then the highest death toll reported in one day by any country since the COVID-19 outbreak originated in Wuhan, China, last year.

So far, there have been 47,021 infections in Italy and 4,032 deaths.

On Thursday, Italy's death toll hit 3,405 and overtook China as the country with the most coronavirus deaths. The virus has caused 3,253 deaths in China, based on data compiled by John Hopkins University.

Even at the height of China's outbreak, its highest single-day death toll was 150, on February 23.

On March 18, China did not report any local COVID-19 cases for the first time since the outbreak began. In the days since, four deaths have been reported there.

'The total blockade will go on'

Lombardy and another region Veneto reported cases on the same day. Their responses, however, differed, with Veneto testing even asymptomatic residents and isolating people who tested positive for the virus. By contrast, Lombardy was slower in testing those who didn't present with symptims.

In the month since, Lombardy has become the country's coronavirus epicenter, proving the need for testing and isolating.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte put the nation's 60 million residents on lockdown on March 10. Only grocery stores and pharmacies are allowed to operate. The quarantine was supposed to end on April 3, but Conte told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the lockdown will be prolonged, without specifying until when.

"The total blockade will go on. The measures taken - both the closure of [public] activities and the ones concerning schools - can only be extended," Conte said, according to CNBC.

Meanwhile, Italy's healthcare system is crumbling under the strain of a never-ending stream of patients, lack of beds, and lack of medical resources. And doctors are reportedly prioritizing younger, healthier patients who have a higher survival rate.

A Sky News video from the Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Italy's worst-hit city, Bergamo, paints a heartbreaking picture: Hospital wards are packed, with patients spilling out into the corridors. There's no respite for overwhelmed doctors and nurses.

The coronavirus has infected more than 265,000 people worldwide and killed at least 11,100 others.

• Read more:
• Italy just surpassed China as the country with the highest coronavirus death toll - 3,405 people there have died
• Italy reports 475 coronavirus deaths, the highest single-day death toll for any country since the outbreak began
• Italy just recorded the highest single-day death toll of any country with a coronavirus outbreak. Here's how this catastrophe unfolded.
• How Italy spiraled from a perfectly healthy country to near collapse in 24 days as the coronavirus took hold
• Italy is in a nationwide lockdown because of the coronavirus. Here are the rules its 60 million citizens now have to follow.

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