Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 482 on Saturday, the lowest daily increase since April 12, while the number of new cases was stable at 3,491, the Civil Protection Agency said.
The death toll had risen by 575 on Friday, up from 525 the day before, with 3,493 new cases recorded.
The daily tallies of deaths and cases extend the broadly stable situation in place over the last 13 days.
This plateau is down considerably from peaks reached around the end of March, but the downtrend has not proceeded as fast as was hoped in a country that has been in lockdown for almost six weeks.
Saturday's number of deaths marked the lowest daily rise since last Sunday, when it stood at 431.
The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 rose to 23,227, the second highest in the world after that of the United States. Total confirmed cases stood at 175,925.
The government continues to struggle with planning the country's recovery and protecting its fragile economy, which faces a drop in national output of up to 9% in 2020.
As a few shops reopened following a partial loosening of lockdown rules, the debate on how to handle the next phase of the coronavirus pandemic has heated up.
Friction between regional governors and the central government continues to intensify as regions have also begun squabbling among each other.
As the northern Lombardy and Veneto regions started to plan possible re-openings of productive activities even before the end of the lockdown on May 3, the southern Campania region threatened to "close it borders" to northerners to avoid risks of a new contagion.
The government has pledged to meet with local authorities soon to start planning the so-called phase two of the emergency and listen to their requests.
The novel coronavirus has spread to 185 countries and regions since emerging in China last December, with the U.S. and Europe now the hardest-hit areas in the world.
More than 2.27 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll over 156,000 and almost 580,000 recoveries, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.
