Italy reports 78 new COVID-19 deaths

Operators sanitize each other after service on an ambulance for the transport of COVID-19 patients in Settimo Torinese, Northern Italy, March 23, 2020. /AP

Italy reported 78 new COVID-19-related deaths on Saturday, taking its total fatalities to 34,301.

The figure was announced by the Civil Protection Agency, which noted that the country registered 346 new infections.

Italy is one of the world's worst affected countries by the COVID-19 pandemic. The country's death toll is the fourth highest after those of the U.S., U.K. and Brazil.

Italy has now recorded 236,651 infections, the seventh biggest tally after the U.S., Brazil, Russia, India, U.K. and Spain.

According to Reuters, the northern region of Lombardy, where the outbreak was first identified, remains by far the worst affected of Italy's 20 regions, accounting for 210 of the 346 new cases reported on Saturday.

People registered as currently carrying the illness fell to 27,485 from 28,997 the day before.

There were 220 people in intensive care on Saturday, down from 227 on Friday, maintaining a long-running decline. Of those originally infected, 174,865 were declared recovered against 173,085 a day earlier.