In all the death toll in the past 24 hours was 349, slightly down from 368 the previous day, taking total fatalities to 2158 in Italy. Total numbers of people infected since the epidemic began were registered at 27,980 including deaths and recoveries while the current number of living people with the illness is officially 23,073, the civil protection ministry said in its daily briefing.

 New cases over the past 24 hours were 2,470, less than registered Sunday, but figures from Trento and Apulia were not included, while the number of people pronounced cured was up at 414.

 

 Virologists have said that there is unlikely to be any significant improvement in the grim picture in italy for a week to 10 days, the time required for the lockdown isolation measures introduced last week to have an impact.

 Officials also are braced for a potential increase in cases in southern regions, so far not badly hit, due to the exodus of some 40,000 people from Milan and other northern cities to the south when news of the lockdown was leaked, allegedly by the Lombardy regional government.

 jp