Italy has registered 32,616 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, Reuters quoted the health ministry as saying on Sunday, compared to 39,811 on Saturday.

The ministry also reported 331 Covid-19 related deaths, down from 425 the day before.

But the number of swab tests carried out was lower than Saturday's count.

A total of 41,394 people have died because of Covid-19 in Italy, which has registered 935,104 infections since the start of its outbreak.

The northern region of Lombardy, home to Italy's business capital Milan, remained the hardest-hit area, although new cases fell to 6,318 on Sunday from 11,489 on Saturday.