Italy registers highest number of coronavirus cases since May

Italy has recorded its highest number of coronavirus infections since May 23, with 845 new cases reported over the last day, health ministry officials said Thursday.

The new high comes after the health ministry on Wednesday counted 642 new cases, confirming an upward curve.

Six people also died over the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 35,418 in a total of 256,118 cases, health officials added.

"We are not in as bad a position as France and Spain, but the current situation is not satisfactory," said Professor Massimo Galli, who heads the infectious diseases department at Milan's prestigious Sacco hospital.

"The end of confinement has resulted in an excessive feeling of false security," he told the La Repubblica newspaper.

Italy in May emerged from a severe lockdown after becoming one the first European countries to report cases of COVID-19.

We have to be careful, otherwise we will find ourselves facing an extremely difficult situation," Galli warned, pointing particularly to returning travellers over the summer vacation.

"I don't want to look like the one blaming young people, there are certain episodes that have struck me," like nine young people who tested positive after returning from Croatia.

"Every day we receive reports of this type," Galli said.

The highest number of cases were reported in the northern Veneto and Lombardy regions, with 159 and 154 and in Rome's Lazio region with 115.