MILAN - Italy reported 27 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, down from 46 the previous day, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 2,278 from 2,748.

Italy has registered 131,301 deaths linked to COVID-19 since the outbreak in February last year. It has the second highest toll in Europe behind Britain and the ninth highest in the world. The country has reported 4.7 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 2,651 on Sunday, down from 2,692 a day earlier.

There were 13 new admissions to intensive care units, decreasing from 16 on Saturday. The total number of patients in intensive care with COVID-19 fell to 364 from a previous 367.

Some 270,044 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 344,969, the health ministry said.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by David Goodman and Jan Harvey)