Italy surpasses China as country with most coronavirus deaths

Italy has surpassed China as the country with the most coronavirus deaths, officials announced Thursday.

The European nation reported 427 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing its total to 3,405, Reuters reported.

Italy passed China’s death rate the same day the city of Wuhan, China, where the outbreak is believed to have originated, recorded no new infections. As of Thursday, China has documented 3,249 deaths, 156 fewer than Italy, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Italy’s number of infected people rose by 5,322 in the last 24 hours, reaching 41,035, according to the Associated Press. The increase in cases was a 14.9 percent faster rate of growth than over the past three days, the Civil Protection Agency said, according to Reuters.

The rise in deaths was slightly lower than the 475 reported in the previous 24 hour period. More than 5,000 people infected in Italy have since recovered.

The majority of those who have died from the virus in Italy have been elderly or have suffered from underlying medical conditions, according to the AP.

Italy’s health care system has been overwhelmed by the rapidly growing number of cases, with the country planning to rush 10,000 student doctors set to graduate this year into the medical field to help without taking the usually mandatory final exams. 

The country has been under lockdown, with law enforcement conducting arrests of people who are in public spaces. 

Worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 230,000 people, causing more than 9,700 deaths. Nearly 85,000 people have recovered from the virus, more than 80 percent of whom are in mainland China, according to Johns Hopkins University data.