Italy sees 529 more COVID deaths as prevalence of variant rises

MILAN - Italy reported 529 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday against 417 the day before, the health ministry said, as a new study showed the more contagious variant first discovered in Britain now accounts for nine out of 10 new Italian cases.

The daily tally of new infections in Italy, the first Western country to be hit by the virus, rose to 16,017 on Tuesday from 12,916 on Monday. Some 301,451 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 156,692, the health ministry said.