Top scientists, health officials and the World Health Organisation on Monday rushed to counter claims made by a leading Italian doctor who said the new coronavirus “no longer exists” in the country, according to AFP.

The row came as Italy prepared the next stage of its gradual easing of a national lockdown imposed three months ago to fight the spread of the deadly virus.

“In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.

“The swabs performed over the past 10 days have showed a viral load that is absolutely infinitesimal in quantitative terms compared to those carried out a month or two months ago,” he said in an interview on RAI television on Sunday.

“Someone has to take responsibility for terrorising the country,” Zangrillo added.

Several specialists, in Italy and abroad, were quick to object to Zangrillo's remarks.