19th March, 2020
Italy, with its shambolic health services, has surpassed China, in the number of people killed by coronavirus.
While China recorded 3245 deaths out of 80,928 infected people, Italy has recorded 3405 deaths in 41,035 cases. On Thursday, official figures showed that 427 people died in one day, a slight decrease over the 470 on Wednesday.
Recovery rate in Italy is low compared with China, where 70,420 patients recovered out 80,928 infected cases. In Italy only 4,440 cases have recovered.
Italy’s bad record came on a day that the number of coronavirus cases worldwide also ballooned to 237,233 with 9836 deaths.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the national lockdown, which has been copied around Europe, would be prolonged till 3 April, shattering hopes of a quick end to the crisis.
“We will not be able to return immediately to life as it was before,” he said.