The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirusin Italy barrelled past 10,000 on Saturday, a figure that made anextension of a national lockdown almost certain.
Officials said 889 more people diedin the previous 24 hours, the second highest daily tally since the epidemicemerged on Feb. 21, and that total fatalities reached 10,023.
Confirmed cases rose by about 6,000to 92,472, the second-highest number of cases in the world behind the UnitedStates.
Officials said the numbers would havebeen worse without a national lockdown.
"Without these measures, wewould be seeing far worse numbers and our health service would be in a far moredramatic state. We would have been in an unsustainable situation," saidAngelo Borelli, the Civil Protection head who reads out the numbers daily tothe media and an anxious Italy.
Italy, the first Western country tointroduce severe restrictions on movement after uncovering the outbreak fiveweeks ago, has since increasingly tightened them, and hopes that they would beeased from next Friday were fading fast.
"There are elements that make usbelieve that all of the April 3 expirations of provision will have to bepostponed," Economy Minister Stefano Patuanelli told Italian broadcasterRai.
The Lombardy region, which has borne theworst of the contagion, recorded 542 new deaths, bringing the total there to5,944.
