Italy records its deadliest day of coronavirus outbreak with 475 deaths

Mangalore Today News Network

Italy, Mar 19, 2020: Italy has suffered its deadliest day yet in the coronavirus outbreak and is poised to overtake China as the world’s worst affected country, as Europe tightened a lockdown affecting about 250 million people, Yahoo reported.

 

In all, 475 people died in Italy during the previous 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 2,978, with almost 36,000 cases reported by Wednesday evening.

About 4,000 people have recovered, with 2,250 in intensive care.

With an economic and social shutdown deepening across Europe, Angela Merkel described the coronavirus crisis as “the biggest challenge since the second world war”.

In a rare TV address to the nation, she appealed to citizens to help protect each other by restricting social interactions. All state-run attempts to curb the spread of Covid-19 would prove futile unless individuals changed their behaviour, Merkel said.

“This is serious, so take it seriously,” the chancellor said in pre-recorded remarks that will go out on German television just before the night’s main news programmes.