Italy's average COVID-19 Rt reproduction number rose to 1.16 in the period of February 17 to March 2, according to the weekly coronavirus monitoring report of the government's 'cabina di regia' task force.
That is a significant rise on the Rt of 1.06 in last week's monitoring report.
An Rt number over 1 indicates that the epidemic is expanding.
The task force, which features experts from the health ministry, the Higher Health Institute (ISS) and regional officials, said the incidence of cases for every 100,000 inhabitants went up to 225.64 in the week of March1-7 from 194.87 the previous week.
The report said the proportion of intensive care places taken up by COVID-19 patients has crossed the critical threshold of 30%, going from 26% to 31%.
It said the data showed the need for further "restrictive measures".
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