国际英语资讯:Italys COVID-19 deaths register new rise as active infections keep falling

ROME, May 27 -- Some 117 new fatalities due to the coronavirus were registered in Italy on Wednesday, bringing the country's death toll to 33,072, the latest data from the national Civil Protection Department showed.

It marked a visible rise compared to 78 deaths registered on Tuesday, and came after a prolonged period in which daily COVID-19 death figures showed a downward trend.

At the same time, active infections kept dropping, the Civil Protection highlighted in its bulletin, confirming a slowdown of the pandemic across the country.

Nationwide, the number of active infections has dropped by 1,976 to 50,966 cases. Of those who tested positive for the new coronavirus, 505 are in intensive care, 16 fewer compared to Tuesday, and 7,729 are hospitalized with symptoms, a decrease of 188 patients compared to Tuesday.

The rest 42,732 people, or about 84 percent of those who tested positive, are quarantined at home with no symptoms or only mild symptoms.

Recoveries rose by 2,443 compared to Tuesday, pushing the total recoveries to 147,101 since the pandemic broke out in the northern Lombardy region on Feb. 21.

The overall number of COVID-19 infections, fatalities and recoveries has risen to 231,139 cases over the past 24 hours, an increase of 584 cases from the 230,555 recorded on Tuesday.

As the pandemic visibly slowed down in recent weeks, Italy further eased on May 18 its COVID-19 restriction measures. Shops, restaurants, bars, barbershops, beauty salons, museums, and beachfront operators were all allowed to reopen, provided that they respect rules for social distancing and disinfect facilities.

In related economic news, a plea for more specific measures to support recovery came from the Italian tourism sector.

"Without new measures, any restart will be difficult," the National Federation of Travels and Tourism (Federturismo Confindustria), a branch of Italy's largest business group Confindustria, said in a statement.

Federturismo warned the provisions contained in a Relaunch Decree passed by the Italian government lately were insufficient to allow tourism businesses to relaunch.

Instead, some of them -- such as a financial bonus aimed at encouraging Italians to spend their holidays in the country -- risked to further exacerbate their problems.

"It is unacceptable to ask operators -- at a time in which they are in great need for liquidity -- to anticipate 80 percent (of costs) to the customer," Federturismo leader Marina Lalli said.

She added businesses in the sector would also need further cuts of regional and national taxes.

In addition, on Wednesday, Italy's Banking Association (ABI) stated the number of applications from micro, small, and medium businesses for accessing loans backed by the state's Guarantee Fund grew to almost 400,000.