Italy reports dip in virus cases after 5 days

According to Health Ministry figures on Sunday, 192 cases were registered in the previous 24 hours, compared to 235 in Saturday's tally. Feeding some of those recent increases, concerned authorities have said, were hotspots of contagion blamed on infected people entering Italy. Italy's confirmed coronavirus infections as of Sunday total 241,611.

After five straight days of small increases, the number of day-to-day confirmed COVID-19 cases in Italy has dipped. According to Health Ministry figures on Sunday, 192 cases were registered in the previous 24 hours, compared to 235 in Saturday's tally.

Feeding some of those recent increases, concerned authorities have said, were hotspots of contagion blamed on infected people entering Italy. Among them was a businessman in northeast Italy who took ill after driving back from a trip in Serbia but despite a fever attended a funeral and a birthday party shortly after he returned home. That man is now hospitalized in intensive care.

The majority of Italy's 20 regions registered a handful or fewer of new cases on Sunday. Italy's confirmed coronavirus infections as of Sunday total 241,611. But many with mild symptoms, as well as numerous elderly residents of nursing homes, didn't get tested.

Including the seven deaths were registered on Sunday nationwide, 34,861 people with confirmed coronavirus have died in Italy during the pandemic.