The Italian government on Monday confirmed it would extend a lockdown to prevent a further spread of the coronavirus outbreak at least until Easter, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said in a statement.
"Our evaluation is that all containment measures should be extended at least until 12 April. The government will move in this direction," the health minister said after a meeting with the scientific committee.
Italians have been under lockdown for three weeks and the restrictions were due to end on Friday.
The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has risen by 812 in the last 24 hours, the Civil Protection Agency says, reversing two days of declines.
Medical personell and patients at a newly set up intensive care unit for the treatment of Coronavirus Covid-19 in a hospital in Brescia, Italy. Source: AAP
Italy, the world's hardest hit country which accounts for more than a third of all global fatalities, recorded its total death tally rise to 11,591 since the outbreak emerged in northern regions on February 21.
More positively, the number of new cases rose by just 4050, the lowest amount since March 17, reaching a total of 101,739.
However, the decline in new infections may be partly explained by a reduction in the number of tests, which were the fewest for six days.
Underscoring the dangers of the disease, the Italian doctors' association announced the deaths of 11 more doctors on Monday, bringing the total to 61.
An Italian flag with the inscription: 'Thank you Pope Francis and thank you to to law enforcement' hung during the lockdown. Source: AAP
Not all of them had been tested for coronavirus before they died, it said, but it linked their deaths to the epidemic.
Lombardy, which is centred on Italy's financial capital Milan, accounts for almost 60 per cent of the total deaths in Italy and about 40 per cent of cases.
Fontana said the unprecedented curbs on movement, gatherings and business activity were preventing an exponential rise in cases, and needed to be kept in place.
"We're on the right track, we're maintaining a (chart) line that's not uphill, but it's not downhill either," he said.
Military specialists in protective suits after disinfection work at a care facility for the elderly in Lombardy, northern Italy. Source: AAP
The head of the national health institute Silvio Brusaferro, who is advising the government on how to handle the crisis, also said that for restrictions to be eased "the number of new cases has to fall significantly".
"For sure the re-opening will happen gradually... we are even considering the British idea of 'stop and go', which envisages opening things for a certain amount of time and then closing them again," he told La Repubblica daily.
