Italy's death toll has skyrocketed by 793 to 4,825 in just 24 hours in the worst daily rise the country has seen yet.

The number of coronavirus infections rose by 6,557 to 53,578, another record.

Italy's fatalities account for 38.3 per cent of the world's total.

France reported 112 more deaths from coronavirus over the last 24 hours bringing the total to 562.

Italy's death toll has skyrocketed by 793 to 4,825 in just 24 hours in the worst daily rise the country has seen yet

The total number of fatalities in the northern Lombardy regions of Italy - around Milan - surpassed 3,000.

It accounts for nearly two-thirds of Italy's fatalities.

Amazon today said it will stop shipping non-essential products to consumers in Italy and France.

Italy has reported 1,420 deaths since Friday, a grim figure that suggests the pandemic is breaking through the government's various containment and social distancing measures.

The Mediterranean nation of 60 million has been under an effective lockdown since March 12, when public gatherings were banned and most stores shuttered.

An employee of the municipal company disinfects Piazza del Duomo in Florence, on March, 21 2020, as part of the measures taken by Italian government to fight against the spread of coronavirus

Officials check drivers in Catania, Italy, in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus in the country

Police were out in force across the streets of Rome on Saturday, checking documents and fining those outside without a valid reason, such as buying groceries.

Joggers were asked to run around the block of their houses, parks and beaches were closed, and the government in Rome prepared to extend school and other closures into the summer months.

But the outbreak keeps gathering pace in the new global epicentre of a virus that was first reported in December in China and has since transformed the world, straining health care systems, upending lives for millions and pummelling stock markets globally.

Italy's fatalities account for 38.3 per cent of the world's total. Pictured: Nurses in protective gear hug at the Cremona hospital, southeast of Milan, Lombardy

The figures released Saturday showed deaths still largely contained to Italy's richer north, whose world-class healthcare system is creaking but still not breaking.

But it is much better that what is available in the poorer south, whose regions have registered a few dozen deaths each - and which the government in Rome is watching closely.

The Lazio region that includes Rome has recorded a total of 50 deaths and 1,190 infections.