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ROME: Italy on Sunday eclipsed Britain to become the nation with the worst official death toll from coronavirus in Europe.
Italy, where the continent’s pandemic began, recorded 484 COVID-19 deaths in one day, one of the lowest counts of deaths in a day in about a month.
Still, those latest deaths brought Italy’s official figure to 64,520, while Britain’s stood at 64,267, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Both numbers underestimate the true number of victims of the pandemic.
The counting criteria differ in the two countries, and many deaths from coronavirus, especially early in the pandemic, are believed to have gone undetected, including those of older people in nursing homes who were not tested for COVID-19. .
Among the reasons cited for Italy’s high death toll is that it was the first country in Europe to be hit by the pandemic, leaving healthcare workers grappling with a largely unknown virus.
Italy also has a lower ratio of medical staff to patients compared to other European nations.
Germany, a nation much larger than Italy, has a third of that of Italy or Great Britain.
Slightly more than half of the known COVID-19 deaths in Italy were recorded in the first increase.
On Sunday, Italy reported another 17,938 coronavirus infections to raise its official count to 1.84 million.
By far the region that recorded the highest number of new infections was the northern region of Veneto.
The Italian region of Lombardy has the highest number of cases and deaths overall.
Following largely the advice of medical experts, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has tightened travel rules for the period spanning the Christmas, New Year and Epiphany holidays.
From December 21 to January 6, people in Italy will not be able to travel between regions except for work or urgent reasons, such as health problems.
At the holidays, under national restrictions, Italians cannot leave their cities, as the government seeks to dissuade families and friends from gathering in large numbers inside.
