The health ministry said Friday that Italy has registered 5,372 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.
That was up from 4,458 new cases on Thursday as the country's contagion curve continued to rise sharply.
The ministry said 28 COVID-19 sufferers have died in the last 24 hours.
It said 129,471 swab tests were taken in a single day.
Almost 1,000 of the new cases, 983, were registered in Lombardy, the worst-hit region.
Campania had 769, Veneto 595 and Tuscany 483.
At the moment 70,110 people are known to be positive for COVID-19 in Italy.
The ministry said 387 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care units, up 29 in a day.
The number of coronavirus patients in other hospital departments was up by 161 to 4,086.
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