Since the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Italy, started in February 2020, many people who contracted the infection died. The number of deaths amounted to 198,683 as of January 8, 2025. On December 3, 2020, 993 patients died, the highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic. The region with the highest number of deaths was Lombardy, which is also the region that registered the highest number of coronavirus cases. Italy's death toll was one of the most tragic in the world. In the last months, however, the country saw the end to this terrible situation: as of November 2023, roughly 85 percent of the total Italian population was fully vaccinated. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

After entering Italy, the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread fast. The strict lockdown implemented by the government during the Spring 2020 helped to slow down the outbreak. However, in the following months the country had to face four new harsh waves of contagion. As of January 1, 2025, 198,638 deaths caused by COVID-19 were reported by the authorities, of which approximately 48.7 thousand in the region of Lombardy, 20.1 thousand in the region of Emilia-Romagna, and roughly 17.6 thousand in Veneto, the regions mostly hit. The total number of cases reported in the country reached over 26.9 million. The north of the country was mostly hit, and the region with the highest number of cases was Lombardy, which registered almost 4.4 million of them. The north-eastern region of Veneto counted about 2.9 million cases. Italy's death toll was one of the most tragic in the world. In the last months, however, the country saw the end to this terrible situation: as of November 2023, 85 percent of the total Italian population was fully vaccinated. For a global overview, visit Statista's webpage exclusively dedicated to coronavirus, its development, and its impact.

Over the course of 2020, more than 2.1 million coronavirus cases were reported to the authorities in Italy. This statistic breaks down this figure by region and wave of infections. Italy, in fact, underwent three distinct phases in the fight against COVID-19. The first one started in late February, as the first cases in the country were detected. In this first stage, most of the contagion happened in the Northern regions. The Italian government reacted by implementing a strict lockdown that lasted until May, when the contagion curve started to flatten. Between June and September, the number of new cases was risible. The third phase started in October, when a second wave of infection, much bigger in magnitude than the first, struck the country. This time, as it is possible to see from the graph, also Central and Southern regions were heavily affected.

In Italy, the internet provided most news related to coronavirus (COVID-19). Data gathered between February 21 and March 29 indicated that online news dwarfed all other media channels, with a peak of over 421 thousand news releases between March 9 to 15. The volume of news jumped drastically over the first week of enforced lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The first two cases of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) in Italy were recorded between the end of January and the beginning of February 2020. Since then, the number of cases in Italy increased steadily, reaching over 26.9 million as of January 8, 2025. The region mostly hit by the virus in the country was Lombardy, counting almost 4.4 million cases. On January 11, 2022, 220,532 new cases were registered, which represented the biggest daily increase in cases in Italy since the start of the pandemic. The virus originated in Wuhan, a Chinese city populated by millions and located in the province of Hubei. More statistics and facts about the virus in Italy are available here.For a global overview, visit Statista's webpage exclusively dedicated to coronavirus, its development, and its impact.

In May 2020, up to six percent of all online news and posts related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and released in Italy were false or not accurate. The percentage was calculated on the average volume of posts and articles published by the Italian media outlets, including posts on social media. The peak in the release of fake news was registered in the early stage of the pandemic at the end of January 2020, with 7.3 percent of the coronavirus-related information.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

Over the course of 2020, 75,891 deaths caused by COVID-19 were reported to the authorities in Italy. In total, the number of deaths in the country surpassed 746 thousand, the highest figure registered since World War II. This statistic shows the percentage change in the number of deaths per age group of the individuals who died, comparing figures for 2020 with the average of deaths in the same period between 2015 and 2019. The three periods considered correspond to three main stages of 2020 in Italy: the pre-COVID-19 months, the first wave, and the second wave. It is possible to see how COVID-19 impacted the different age groups disproportionately. The number of deaths recorded among individuals between zero and 49 years old, in fact, was even consistently less than the 2015-2019 average across 2020. On the other hand, during the first and second wave of infections, the number of deaths registered among people aged 80 years or more was 36 percent higher than the 2015-2019 average.

The first two cases of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) in Italy were recorded between the end of January and the beginning of February 2020. Since then, the total number of cases in Italy increased steadily and the country faced five harsh waves of contagion. The total number of cases reached 26,964,654 as of January 8, 2025. The region mostly hit by the virus in the country was Lombardy, counting almost than 4.4 million cases. The virus originated in Wuhan, a Chinese city populated by millions and located in the province of Hubei. More statistics and facts about the virus in Italy are available here.For a global overview, visit Statista's webpage exclusively dedicated to coronavirus, its development, and its impact.

At the end of February 2020, the Italian government started to implement measures aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Among these measures, working from home became more common as many workplaces had to close. This was an unusual situation for many workers, as most of them were not used to work from home before the lockdown. However, a survey conducted in May 2020 show that the majority of employees would like to have the chance to work from home also in the post COVID-19 scenario. Some 33 percent of respondents stated to prefer to work from the office, but with the chance to work from home on a regular basis. About 24 percent of employees declared to rather be in the office and to choose remote working only if necessary.

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency, Italian consumers changed their purchase habits. According to the results of a survey from mid-March 2020, 37 percent of consumers increased their spending on personal care products during the emergency.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared a pandemic. There have been more than 300,000 cases reported on multiple continents.

In March 2020, mobile users in Italy dramatically reduced their visits to retail and recreation facilities during the national lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In 2022, this scenario improved significantly compared to the first year of the health crisis. As of October 2022, data collected from applications using location trackers revealed that visits to retail and recreation facilities dropped by four percent in Italy. The percentage change was compared to the baseline represented by the average number of visits between January and February 2020. Overall, visits in Lombardy, the Italian region most affected by the coronavirus, decreased by seven percent in October 2022 compared to the baseline.

According to estimations from April 2020, the coronavirus pandemic will have a significant impact on the Italian economy. Especially, it is estimated that the hotel and catering sector will experience the largest decrease in terms of consumption value. If the coronavirus emergency will last until the beginning of October 2020, it is forecasted that this sector will lose about 41.6 billion euros. Moreover, the transport industry is expected to be the second most hit sector, registering a loss of roughly 22 billion euros.

For a global overview of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, consult the report Coronavirus: impact on the global economy.

During the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), Italian users browsed mostly websites of current events and global news. Between March 9 and 15, this category of websites reported an increase of 123 percent in the number of unique users. If compared with the average values of online traffic in the weeks before the emergency, the online news media were the second-most visited category of websites.For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Fact and Figures page.

As of March 9th, 2020, 47 percent of Italian consumers stated they increased their spending on food products, while on March 16th, only 39 percent did the same. This particular food spending behavior was due to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The emergency encouraged Italian people to make provisions of foods due to the lockdown.

A survey from April 2020 showed that during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 48 percent of Italian online users looked for local news, while 41 percent of them was more interested in the situation across the country. The current situation in foreign countries was searched by 29 percent of respondents.

A survey from April 2020 revealed that during the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown about one out of three Italian adults subscribed to a paid digital service. Video on demand services were more popular in the Islands (22 percent), while online newspapers and magazines were preferred by individuals living in the South (nine percent).

As of May 2023, approximately 25.8 million people in Italy were infected by coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. As the chart shows, about 60 percent of the individuals infected with the virus was under 50 years old. At first, most of the cases recorded occurred among older citizens, but, as the virus spread, younger people caught it in greater numbers.

Since the first case was detected at the end of January 2020 in Italy, coronavirus spread fast and the country faced four harsh waves of contagion. The area mostly hit by the virus was the North, in particular the region of Lombardy.

For a global overview visit Statista's webpage exclusively dedicated to coronavirus, its development, and its impact.

Only seven percent of Italian wine drinkers was willing to consume more wine after the lockdown. The emergency of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic did not affect the consumption behavior of 80 percent of wine drinkers. Lastly, 12 percent of respondents stated they would drink less wine than before.

Between February and September 2020, about 2.8 billion hours in form of wage subsidies were paid in Italy due to the COVID-19 emergency. Wage subsidies are paid in Italy to workers whose working activity has been suspended or reduced. The subsidies are paid by the Italian entities of social security. The month of April recorded the largest amount of hours of wage subsidies, when almost one billion hours were compensated. In terms of number of workers, this amount of hours is estimated to correspond to 5.5 million people.

As a consequence of the rising number of cases, in March the Italian government announced that the country is in lockdown and many non-essential activities had to shut down their operations. Currently, there is no strict national lockdown in the country and measures to limit mobility and large social gatherings are region or province based.

Before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Italy counted approximately 5.2 thousand intensive care units (ICU) across the country. The region with the highest number of ICUs is Lombardy. However, the outbreak of the coronavirus outbreak showed that these resource were insufficient to face the pandemic. This required the installation of a considerable number of additional ICUs in order to keep up with the increasing number of patients in need of treatment, especially in the regions mostly hit. The region of Lombardy, which counted nearly one third of all the coronavirus cases in the country, had to increase the number of ICUs in its territory by 50 percent.