In the last 24 hours, 651 more people have died in Italy from the Chinese coronavirus, which brings the nation’s death toll to 5,476 on Sunday, up from 4,825 on Saturday — an increase of 13.5 percent in one day.

Newly released data from Italy’s Civil Protection reveals that the country’s death toll has jumped from 4,825 deaths on Saturday to 5,476 on Sunday, as well as from 53,578 confirmed cases on Saturday to 59,138 on Sunday.

On Saturday, Italy had seen its worst day yet, losing a total of 793 people in a single day. Sunday’s death toll shows a slight decrease from the day earlier, but still makes for the nation’s second-highest daily death toll involving the Chinese virus.

“Today’s numbers are lower than yesterday’s,” said the head of Italy’s Civil Protection, Angelo Borrelli during the press conference, according to a report by La Repubblica.

“Don’t let your guard down,” he added. “Keep the measures adopted and comply with the indications also of the government provision.”

The report added that among the new confirmed coronavirus cases, twelve of them are within the Civil Protection agency in Rome.

On Friday, 243 mayors in Italy’s Lombardy region signed a letter to the nation’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Lombardy’s Governor Attilio Fontana, begging them to ramp up draconian measures in an effort to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

“At the moment, we believe that the adoption of courageous new restrictive measures may represent the only and desirable solution for a tragedy that seems today,” said the mayors in their letter.

“The infected increase relentlessly,” they added. “It has no end.”

On Saturday, Fontana, the governor of Lombardy — Italy’s worst-infected region — announced that there would be a total shut down of the entire region, according to Il Giornale.

The region had been previously been put on lockdown, but with the lack of people following new quarantine rules, the Italian government decided to call in its military on Friday to help enforce the lockdown.

“The Lombardy region, in agreement with the mayors of our territory, with the trade associations, and with the social partners, have decided to issue an order in which new stringent restrictions are placed to counter the spread of Coronavirus,” said Fontana.

The new ordinance is set to take effect on Sunday and last until April 15 — unless the government decides to extend it at a later date.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.