Italy has reported 1733 new cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, a record level since May.

Authorities said on Friday 11 people have died of the virus in the past day.

The last time similar levels were reported was early in May, when 1900 new infections were recorded in a 24-hour period.

Several months followed with lower levels of new infections but cases started rising again in the summer and on August 22 Italy again recorded more than 1000 new cases per day.

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Numbers dipped again but have risen steadily over the past three days, leading to fears of a second wave in Italy - one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic in Europe.

Overall, the country has recorded 274,644 cases of the virus and a death toll of 35,518 since the outbreak began.