ROME — Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was meeting with coalition party leaders Friday evening to discuss whether or not to allow more regione to close schools after latest figures showed 31,084 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours and 199 deaths, official sources said.

 The death roll was a dip from 217 deaths on Thursday but an increase of new cases from 26,831 new cases registered Thursday. Worst hit region Friday again was Lombardy with 8,960 new cases (compared to 7339 Thursday), followed by Campania with 3186, Veneto with 3012, Tuscany with 2765 and Piedmont with 2719 new cases.

 Health Ministry spokesman Gianni Rezza said the new figure were expected as latest measures closing bars and restaurants from 6 p.m. introduce last week would not impact the infection rate  for two to three weeks.

 Lombardy has already announced a tighter curfew for the region from next week end but Campania’s governo De Luca was resisting growing pressure for a local lockdown in the southern region though he has ordered all schools closed. 

 jp