Italy's coronavirus death toll has surpassed China's

Italian woman. — (Image credit: Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images)

The new coronavirus has officially turned more deadly in Italy than in any other country in the world.

Italy reported that its COVID-19 death toll reached 3,405 on Thursday, pushing it past China's total of 3,245 deaths as of its last update. That's an increase of 427 new deaths since Italy's Wednesday update, showing the disease is still going strong there as it dwindles in China.

COVID-19 has hit Italy, and namely its northern region, especially hard since it spread beyond China. It saw a record increase of 475 deaths from Tuesday to Wednesday, and came close to matching that in the 24 hours since. A Wednesday Reuters report indicated even more people may have died from COVID-19, but because they died at home or in nursing homes and weren't tested, their deaths weren't attributed to the virus.

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Meanwhile, China shared positive news about its outbreak on Thursday: After weeks of extreme isolation efforts, it saw no new local infections for the first time since the outbreak began.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.