Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 88 on Thursday, against 71 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the rise in the tally of new cases slowed to 177 from 321 on Wednesday. Of the 177 new infections on Thursday, 84 were in the northern region of Lombardy which has been by far the hardest hit by Italy’s epidemic in terms of both cases and deaths. Nine of Italy’s 20 regions had no new cases on Thursday.
