Coronavirus victims in Italy increase by 756 bringing the total death toll to 10.779

The number of victims has decreased for the second consecutive day, but Italy continues to be the country with the highest number of coronavirus deaths in the world with 10.779.

The death toll in Italy for the coronavirus epidemic increased by 756 to 10.779, the Civil Protection Agency said on Sunday.

The figure represents the second consecutive drop in the daily rate since Friday, when 919 people died in Italy. Saturday's mortality rate was 889.

The death toll of Covid-19 in Italy remains by far the highest in the world (equal to about one third of all deaths), followed by Spain which has seen over 6.500 deaths.

A total of 5.217 new cases were reported on Sunday in Italy, down from 5.974 on Saturday.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has asked the public to "not let his guard down" rather than assume that the virus has peaked.

However, the daily increase in infections has slowed to 5,6 percent, the lowest rate since Italian officials began monitoring cases after their first death on February 21.

In the epicenter of the pandemic, the region around Milan where the number of cases previously increased every day, the number of Italians receiving intensive care has remained almost unchanged.

"We are witnessing a slowdown," the virologist of the University of Milan Fabrizio Pregliasco told Corriere della Sera every day.

"It's not a plateau yet, but it's a good sign."

Italy closed all its schools earlier this month and then gradually started to impose a blockade, tightening it later until almost all the shops were closed on March 12th.

The measures - since adopted to varying degrees in most of Europe - have not prevented Italy's death toll from exceeding that in China, where the disease was first reported on 19 March.

And while the blockade - which is expected to officially end on April 3 - is financially painful, officials seem determined to extend it until the coronavirus is stopped.

Regional affairs minister Francesco Boccia said that the question the government needs to face is not whether it will extend, but how long.

"The measures expiring on April 3 will inevitably be extended," Boccia told Italian television Sky TG24.

"At the moment, I think talking about reopening is inappropriate and irresponsible."

A final decision is expected to be made at a ministerial meeting in the coming days.

Boccia also indicated that any relaxation of the various confinement measures would be gradual.

"We all want to go back to normal," he said. "But we will have to do this by activating one switch at a time."

In theory, the current state of national health emergency allows Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to extend the blockade until 31 July.

Conte said he would like to lift the most severe restrictions - including those that impose the suspension of the Italian Serie A football season - a few months earlier