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Italy's current confirmed cases of coronavirus reached 5,061 on Saturday, excluding 233 deaths and 589 recoveries, according to the Civil Protection Department.
"It shows an increase of 1,145 infections (over the previous day)," Civil Protection Department chief Angelo Borrelli, who serves as extraordinary commissioner for the coronavirus emergency, told a televised press conference at 6 p.m. local time.
"It must be specified this is partially due to the situation in Lombardy (region), where over 300 people had been tested positive at the laboratory in Brescia in the previous days, and were yet to be registered," he added.
Latest data showed that a total of 589 people have recovered, an increase of 66 from Friday. There were also 36 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 233.
Adding death toll and recoveries, the country's accumulated cases since the new coronavirus outbreak was 5,883.
As for the health conditions of the 5,061 who tested positive, the commissioner said 2,651 were currently hospitalized, another 567 were in intensive care, and 1,843 who were asymptomatic or with light symptoms were in isolation at home.
"In terms of percentage, the number of people currently in intensive care has not increased compared to the total of positive cases, staying at around 10 percent," Borrelli explained.
The commissioner also said places in intensive care units in northern Lombardy region -- the most hit by the epidemic so far -- were getting scarce, and thus some patients with COVID-19 might soon be moved from there to other regions where beds in the same units were available.
Also on Saturday, 54-year-old Nicola Zingaretti, governor of the Lazio region, announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus.
Zingaretti, who is also leader of Italy's Democratic Party, confirmed it in a video posted on Facebook, explaining that he would remain in isolation at home as required by health protocols, trying to work as much as possible.