Military personnel load into the truck coffins that have been piling up in a church due to the high number of deaths as Italy struggles to contain a spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Seriate, Italy, March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo

ROME (Reuters) - The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has grown by 683 to 7,503, the Civil Protection Agency said on Wednesday, a decline in the daily tally of fatalities following a spike the day before.

On Tuesday 743 people died. That followed 602 deaths on Monday, 650 on Sunday and a record of 793 on Saturday -- the highest daily figure since the contagion came to light on Feb. 21.

The total number of confirmed cases in Italy rose to 74,386 from a previous 69,176, the Civil Protection Agency said.

The head of the agency, Angelo Borrelli, was not present at the customary news conference to illustrate the data because he came down with a fever on Wednesday and was himself being tested for coronavirus.

Of those originally infected nationwide, 9,362 had fully recovered on Wednesday compared to 8,326 the day before. There were 3,489 people in intensive care against a previous 3,396.

The hardest-hit northern region of Lombardy reported a sharp fall in the number of deaths compared with the day before, but remained in a critical situation, with a total of 4,474 deaths and 32,346 cases.

That compared with 4,178 deaths and 30,703 cases reported up to Tuesday.