(Bloomberg) --
Italy saw the number of new coronavirus cases and deaths stabilizing on Friday, as officials express optimism that a four-week lockdown is beginning to check Europe's worst outbreak.
Fatalities over the past 24 hours rose 766, compared with Thursday's 760 deaths, to 14,681, civil protection authorities said at their daily news conference in Rome. They reported 4,585 new infections compared with 4,668 the previous day. Italy now has 119,827 total cases, just ahead of Spain's 117,710.
The pace of both new deaths and new infections has flattened out over past days, even as the containment measures shuttering all non-essential activities and banning most movement take a heavy toll on the economy.
Read More: Euro-Area Economy Shrinking 10% With Worse Still to Come
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose government has approved an initial 25 billion-euro ($27 billion) stimulus package, is working on a new decree which may be approved during the weekend to boost liquidity for businesses. Another package later this month will include an emergency income for people trapped in the underground economy.
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