ROME (Reuters) - The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has leapt by 793 to 4,825, officials said on Saturday, an increase of 19.6% -- by far the largest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion emerged a month ago.

On Thursday, Italy overtook China as the country to register most deaths from the highly contagious virus.

The total number of cases in Italy rose to 53,578 from a previous 47,021, an increase of 13.9%, the Civil Protection

Agency said.

The hardest-hit northern region of Lombardy remains in a

critical situation, with 3,095 deaths and 25,515 cases.

Of those originally infected nationwide, 6,072 had fully recovered on Saturday compared to 5,129 the day before. There were 2,857 people in intensive care against a previous 2,655.