Italy's daily coronavirus death toll drops but Lombardy not included

ROME (Reuters) - Italy recorded 50 new deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic on Sunday against 119 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said.

However, it added that the data did not include deaths from the worst affected Lombardy region due to technical problems.

The daily tally of new cases declined to 531 from 669 on Saturday.

The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 now stands at 32,785, the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain.

The Civil Protection Agency said the total number of confirmed cases in Italy since the start of its outbreak now amounts to 229,858, the sixth highest global tally behind those of the United States, Russia, Spain, Britain and Brazil.

People registered as currently carrying the illness dipped to 56,594 on Sunday from 57,752 the day before.

There were 553 people in intensive care on Sunday, down from 572 on Saturday, maintaining a long-running decline. Of those originally infected, 140,479 were declared recovered against 138,840 a day earlier.

The agency said 2.198 million people had been tested for the virus as of Sunday, against 2.164 million on Saturday, out of a population of around 60 million.

(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni)