Italy reports 46169 coronavirus cases on Thursday, 249 deaths

People wait to get a dose of the vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the day Italy brings in tougher rules for the unvaccinated, at a Red Cross vaccination centre by Termini main train station in Rome, Italy, January 10, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane//File Photo

MILAN, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Italy reported 46,169 COVID-19 related cases on Thursday, against 49,040 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths fell to 249 from 252.

Italy has registered 154,013 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth highest in the world. The country has reported 12.65 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 12,125 on Thursday,down from 12,527 a day earlier.

There were 56 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 81 on Wednesday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 839 from a previous 886.

Some 484,530 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 479,447, the health ministry said.

Reporting by Agnieszka Flak, editing by Sabina Suzzi

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