Italy's daily death toll from the novel coronavirus epidemic fell to 542 on Wednesday, dpa reported. It is only the second time in nearly three weeks that the daily death count has fallen under 600. On Tuesday it stood at 604, and it peaked at 969 on March 27. The overall death toll reached 17,669, the Civil Protection Agency said in its bulletin. Italy remains the country with the highest number of deaths from Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by coronavirus. The infections count rose by 3,836, or 2.8 per cent, to 139,422, and confirmed Italy as the world's third-most-infected country after the United States and Spain.
