Officials say Italy has recorded a smaller day-to-day increase in new coronavirus cases for the second straight day.
Data released by Italy's Civil Protection agency on Monday showed 4,789 new cases from a day earlier, nearly 700 fewer than the 5,560 new cases reported Sunday.
The number of deaths also did not rise by as much.
There were just over 600 registered on Monday compared to 651 on Sunday.
Health authorities have said it will be a few more days before they will know if Italy is at the beginning of a positive trend.
A top government health official said the improvements registered Monday were due to actions taken at the beginning of the month, not in recent days.
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