At end of 2-week lockdown, Italy's new COVID-19 infections drop to lowest point in crisis

Italy on Tuesday received more reassuring evidence that its coronavirus infection rate was slowing thanks to a painful lockdown that or nations are starting to apply at great ecomic cost.

Health officials across ravd Mediterranean country are poring over every new piece of data to see wher two weeks of bans and closures have me a dent in crisis.

harshest restrictions are oretically due to expire on Wednesday evening -- although government is all but certain to extend m in some form for weeks or even months.

Italy's 743 new deaths broke two days of successive declines that h taken number down to 601 on Monday.

It set a world record of 793 fatalities on Saturday.

But officially registered new infections rose just eight per cent -- same as Monday and lowest level since Italy registered its first death on February 21.

It h been running at as high as 50 per cent at start of March.

" measures we took two weeks ago are starting to have an effect," civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli told daily La Repubblica before Tuesday's toll came out.

He said more data over next few days will help show "if growth curve is really flattening." Few scientists expect Italy's numbers -- if y really are dropping -- to follow a stey downward line.

slowing contagion rate is at least offering a ray of hope in midst of a global health emergency that is only deepening in or parts of Europe and United States.

Scientists believe that countries such as Spain and France are following in Italy's footsteps with a lag of a few weeks.

numbers from US are also similar to track of those of Italy about 20 days ago.

Most or European nations and some US states have followed Italy's example and imposed ir own containment and social distancing measures designed to stop spre.

data that Borrelli has gared from Italy's 22 regions are of crucial interest to global policymakers and medical experts.

Government are weighing potential benefits of Italy's measures against ir dam to ecomy and families' livelihoods.

Big global banks think business closures have plunged Italy into a deep recession that could be more severe than anything seen in deces.

But country's world-class health system is also straining and government appears intent on helping it cope at any price.

country's daily deaths are also still higher than those officially recorded in China at peak of its crisis in Wuhan's Hubei province.

Both Italy's and Hubei's populations are around 60 million.

Italian officials are using downward trend in new infections to double down on ir insistence that people stay home at all times.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday cranked up fines for those out on streets without a legitimate reason from current 206 euros to 400-3,000 euros ($430-$3,225).

"Everyone must do ir part," Conte said in a televised dress.

Conte ded that he was "very confident" that Italians could resume ir rmal lives before current general state of emergency expires on July 31.

Italy is perplexed over how it mand to become global epicentre of a pandemic that began on or side of world.

Various Italian officials publically scoffed at early reports of a new killer disease rapidly spreing across rrn stretches of country.

Borrelli pointed to a Champions League match between Italy's Atalanta and Spain's Valencia football clubs in Milan on February 19 as a particularly egregious mistake.

It was attended by 40,000 fans who celebrated local team's win deep into night.

"We can w say, with hindsight, that it was potentially a detonator," Borrelli said of match.