Italy has recorded 100,000 coronavirus deaths, a year after it became the first western country to impose a total lockdown and as it braces for a third wave of the pandemic. Italy’s recently appointed prime minister, Mario Draghi, said that passing the “terrible threshold” of 100,000 deaths was something “we would never have imagined a year ago”. On March 9th, 2020, his predecessor, Giuseppe Conte, imposed unprecedented national restrictions as the pandemic took hold. At the time, Italy had registered 463 Covid-19 deaths and 9,172 infections. Other areas of the country that were hardly touched during the first wave, such as Perugia in Umbria, have become virus hotspots.

Source: The Irish Times March 09, 2021 17:49 UTC