(ANSA) - Rome, March 16 - There have now been over 2,000 coronavirus victims in Italy, 2,158, a rise of 349 on Sunday, Emergency Commissioner and Civil Protection Chief Angelo Borrelli said Monday.

The previous day's rise was 368.

Borrelli said 23,073 people are currently infected with COVID-19 in Italy, up 2,470 on Sunday, and 2,749 people have recovered, 414 more.

The daily rise in the number of people to have recovered on Sunday was 369, while the number of new infections was 2,853.

The overall number of people to have contracted the disease, including victims and those recovered, is now 27,980.

Borrelli said that, although the figures are dramatic, there are some signs the trend might be moving in the right direction.

He said that "414 people have recovered from the coronavirus since Sunday, more than yesterday, and there are 2,470 new positive cases, less than yesterday, even though the Puglia and Trento data are lacking. But as you can see, including from the data from Lombardy, the trend is downward, let's register this fact".

The government has said that it does not expect its dramatic lockdown measures to have a big impact in terms of a slowdown of the spread of the virus for some time.