ROME

Angelo Borrelli, the head of Italy’s Civil Protection Department, developed a fever on Wednesday and his daily news conference on the coronavirus emergency was cancelled for precautionary reasons. 

In a statement, the department said Borrelli displayed the first symptoms on Wednesday morning and immediately left its headquarters.

Due to his health condition, the daily news conference with updates on Italy’s COVID-19 crisis has been suspended "until further notice", read the statement.

Earlier this week, Borrelli had reported that some Civil Protection officers had tested positive for COVID-19. He, however, had tested negative at the time.

Borrelli has been the point man in Italy’s response to the coronavirus outbreak that has brought the country to a grinding halt.

It has the highest death toll in the world, rising to 6,820 after 743 new fatalities were reported on Tuesday.

The epicenter of the outbreak in Italy remains the northern Lombardy region, which accounts for more than 4,000 of the victims.

Officials of the World Health Organization have said they expect the peak of contagions in Italy to be reached by next week.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was expected to address parliament Wednesday afternoon on his government’s efforts to mitigate the crisis.