Italy's death toll from the COVID-19 Coronavirus passed 1,000 on Thursday, with 189 new fatalities on Thursday taking its toll in just over two weeks to 1,016, second behind China, official data showed.

The number of deaths was just below Italy's single-day record of 196 reported on Wednesday.

The number of daily infections rose to 2,651 from 2,313 on Wednesday, reaching 15,113 overall.

Italy is in lock-down, having banned travel and ordered all shops closed except food stores and pharmacies. 

Meanwhile, Britain said up to 10,000 people in the UK could be infected with the novel coronavirus, as it announced new measures to slow the spread of the pandemic.

Government chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said there were currently 590 confirmed cases but it was "much more likely that we've got somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people infected"

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