Italy looks to extend lockdown as cases near 100,000

Italian authorities said on Sunday they would extend a month-long lockdown to stem the coronavirus pandemic, as the number of deaths in the country reached 10,779 and the number of infected neared 100,000.

The civil protection service reported another 756 fatalities in the world's worst-hit nation on Sunday, while the number of officially registered cases of COVID-19 increased by 5,217 to 97,689.

Nevertheless, the daily rise in infections has slowed to 5.6 per cent -- the lowest rate since Italian officials started tracking cases following the first death on February 21.

In the epicentre of the pandemic, the region around Milan where the number of cases previously increased daily, the number of Italians receiving intensive care remained almost unchanged.

"We are witnessing a slowdown," University of Milan virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco told the Il Corriere della Sera daily.

"It is not plateau yet, but it is a good sign."
"We all want to go back to normal," he said. "But we will have to do it by turning on one switch at a time."