A woman wearing a protective mask and her dog sit on the subway in Milan, Italy March 1, 2020. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

ROME (Reuters) - The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has risen by five to 34 over the past 24 hours, the Civil Protection Agency said on Sunday, with the accumulative number of cases totaling some 1,694.

The head of the agency said that of those infected, 83 people had recovered. The contagion came to light 10 days ago and is focused on a handful of hotspots in the north of Italy with isolated cases reported in many other regions.