Over the past 24 hours, Italy has registered 30,550 new coronavirus infections, the ministry of health said on Wednesday, up from 28,244 on Tuesday.

Compared with 353 the day before, the ministry also reported 352 COVID-related deaths.

A total of 39,764 people have now died from COVID-19 in Italy, while 790,377 cases of the disease have been recorded to date.

The northern Lombardy region, centered on the financial capital of Italy, Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 7,758 new cases on Wednesday versus 6,804 on Tuesday.

The second-worst affected was the southern Campania area, chalking up 4,181 cases.