(Bloomberg) --
Italy reported 5,210 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday compared with 5,249 a day earlier, as growth in infections declined after nearly three weeks of lockdown measures.
Fatalities from the disease over the past 24 hours totaled 683, compared with 743 on Tuesday, according to figures from the civil protection agency.
Confirmed cases in the country now total 74,386.
The news came as the government worked to broaden rules that shield companies from hostile takeovers as the virus takes a heavy toll on the economy.
The epidemic in the north of the country may have peaked, “but it's crucial to keep monitoring southern Italy where contagion could still accelerate,” Lorenzo Pregliasco, co-founder of researcher YouTrend, said in a phone interview.
Italy has been under an incrementally tightening lockdown since early March, and the government on Wednesday extended measures limiting mobility to April 3.
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