Italy sees more encouraging coronavirus numbers

Rome, May 19 (AP) Pressure on Italy's hospitals has continued to decline, an essential condition for the country to safely continue to eliminate or ease lockdown measures for the coronavirus.

For the first time since mid-March, the number of persons hospitalized in non-intensive care beds has dipped under 10,000. The number of COVID-19 patients occupying intensive care beds also has decreased in recent weeks, down to 716 on Tuesday, according to Health Ministry figures.

Throughout the outbreak, most coronavirus patients in Italy haven't needed hospitalization but instead stayed isolated at home. There were 813 new cases of infection nationwide in the 24-hour period ending Tuesday evening, raising to 226,699 Italy's overall known case tally.

The daily increase in deaths was registered at 162, increasing the country's total number of persons who died with confirmed COVID-19 infections to 32,169. (AP) RS RS