On Saturday, Italy’s government officials reported there were more than 53,000 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in the country – with more than half having been diagnosed this past week. The death toll rose by 793 cases in the past 24 hours alone, rising to 4,800 victims of the virus, making Italy the new global epicenter of the pandemic, surpassing China.
"We're not even counting the dead anymore."
Listen to this nurse's emotional plea about working during the outbreak in Italy. pic.twitter.com/Cltcsa0WpR
— AJ+ (@ajplus)
As of Saturday, there were 304,788 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus worldwide, and 13,001 deaths from the virus, according to the Worldometer website.
On the positive side, there were also 94,793 people who had recovered from having been sick with the virus.
A second bit of good news comes from the United States: A new rapid test for the virus has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA); it can detect the coronavirus in about 45 minutes.