Italy saw more evidence Friday that it might have made it through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic despite the world-leading death toll growing by 766 to 14,681.
In new data from the civil protection service the daily rise of officially registered infections dropped to a new low of just four percent.
The number of people who have been declared fully recovered has soared by 17.3 percent to 19,758 over the past 48 hours.
The situation in some of Italy's worst-hit regions also appears to be gradually easing.
Lombardy, in the north, where over half the official deaths have been counted, showed only a slight rise in patients receiving intensive care.
"The numbers are improving," Lombardy's chief medical officer Giuli Gallera said, "Our hospitals are starting to breathe."