Italian coronavirus deaths jump to 79, cases climb above 2,500

ROME (Reuters) – The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has risen by 27 over the past 24 hours to 79, the Civil Protection Agency said on Tuesday.

The accumulative number of cases in the country, which has been hardest hit by the virus in Europe, totaled 2,502, up from 2,036 on Monday.

The head of the agency said that of those originally infected, 160 people had fully recovered.

The contagion came to light 12 days ago and is focused mainly on a handful of hotspots in the north of Italy. However, cases have now been confirmed in all but one of the country’s 20 regions.