Italy tops 19,000 coronavirus deaths

Italy has topped 19,000 deaths and 150,000 cases of the coronavirus.

The milestones were hit Saturday, even as the country continued to see a slight decrease in numbers of people hospitalized and in intensive care.

Deaths rose by 3.2 per cent, or 619, to 19,468, while the number of people who tested positive for the virus reached 152,271, an increase of 4,694, or 3.1 per cent.

Officials have been warning Italians not to keep their guard down even if the number of new cases and deaths is narrowing, especially on the Easter holiday weekend when many are tempted to go to the countryside or seashore.

Police checkpoints were set up around major arteries in Milan, the capital of the hardest-hit region of Lombardy with 38 per cent of all cases and more than half of all deaths.