ROME 

Italy registered its highest ever daily spike in COVID-19 cases with 219,441 infections diagnosed in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry announced Thursday.

More than 1.13 million coronavirus tests were conducted since yesterday, said the ministry.

The country’s total number of cases stands at over 6.97 million while there are nearly 1.6 million coronavirus patients in the country, among which 1,467 are currently receiving treatment in the intensive care units (ICUs) of hospitals.

As many as 5.24 million people have recovered from the virus so far, with 46,770 new additions.

Currently, 113.51 million vaccine doses have been administered in the country, where a widespread vaccination campaign against COVID-19 began on Dec. 27, 2020.

The number of those who have been fully vaccinated exceed 46.52 million.

The proportion of those in Italy who are fully vaccinated to the population over the age of 12 is 86.1%.

More than 21.54 million booster shots have also been administered in the country.

Since December 2019, the coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 5.47 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 299 million cases reported worldwide, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.

*Writing by Merve Berker