Italy's death toll from the novel coronavirus shot past 10,000 on Saturday with 889 new deaths, the country's civil protection service said.
The toll in Italy, which has suffered more deaths than any other country, now stands at 10,023. An additional 5,974 infections brought to 92,472 the number of people who have officially tested positive for COVID-19 in Italy since the crisis began last month.
In Spain, the deaths due to the deadly virus surged over 5,600 on Saturday after a record 832 people died in 24 hours, as officials said the epidemic appeared to be close to the peak.
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Spain has the world's second-highest death toll after Italy with 5,690 fatalities.
But although Spain's latest figures showed a daily increase of more than 8,000 cases, raising the overall number to 72,248, the rate of new infections appeared to be slowing, with officials saying the epidemic could be nearing its peak.
"The increase is slowing or stabilising little-by-little," said Fernando Simon, the health ministry's emergencies coordinator, indicating the figures were "very very close" to peaking.
The number of novel coronavirus cases in the United States, already the world's highest, reached a new record on Saturday, a count by Johns Hopkins University showed.
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Over the past 24 hours the United States also marked a record 453 deaths linked to the COVID-19 illness, bringing the country's toll to 1,891 deaths since the pandemic began.
That is fewer than the 10,023 in Italy, Spain's 5,812, China's 3,299 or the 2,317 in France, the tally showed.
(With inputs from agencies)
