Italy's death toll from the coronavirus outbreak looks on pace to exceed China's on Thursday after Italian officials reported the country's largest jump in deaths over a 24-hour period.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that the total number of deaths in Italy had risen to 2,978 after 475 deaths were recorded overnight.

Italian officials are now reporting several hundred deaths and thousands of new cases per day. The country has struggled to control the virus's spread after implementing lockdown procedures over much of the nation.

ADVERTISEMENT

Most of those killed so far in Italy have been elderly and those suffering from an underlying medical condition such as diabetes, the AP noted.

A spokesman for the Italian Army told Reuters that trucks had been deployed to help move bodies from inundated crematoriums in one northern town, while the state of Lombardi's governor warned that doctors and nurses were in danger of being overwhelmed.

“I’m worried about the possibility they could succumb physically and psychologically because if they were to succumb, it would really be a disaster,” he said.

The global coronavirus outbreak has sickened more than 200,000 people as of this week, killing thousands. The World Health Organization has declared the situation a pandemic, urging health officials across the world to cooperate.