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.

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.

Italy went through five coronavirus waves during the pandemic. As of January 8, 2025, the number of active coronavirus cases in the country was equal to approximately 203,305. On January 23, 2022, there were 2,734,906 active infections in Italy, the highest figure since the start of the pandemic. Furthermore, the total number of cases (including active cases, recoveries, and deaths) in Italy reached 26.9 million, with the region mostly hit by the virus in the country being Lombardy. Despite this notably high number of infections, deaths and hospitalizations remain rather low, thanks to a very high vaccination rate. 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.

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.

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 generation of electricity from coal has been severely impacted in several countries during the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, including Italy. During the lockdown period comprised between March and April 20, 2020, coal power generation in Italy has decreased by 31 percent, compared to the same period in 2019. Italy's solar power generation, on the other hand, has increased by 12 percent during the same timeframe.

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.

A survey from April 2020 showed that during the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown a significant share of Italian people spent more time streaming audio and video content. However, male respondents reported a more significant behavior change. 17 percent of male adults dedicated much more time to audio and video streaming, while only 13 percent of female respondents did the same.

At the beginning of March 2020, the Italian government imposed a national lockdown in order to reduce the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. A research conducted in March 2020 shows that, during the lockdown, Italy recorded a sharp increase in film and TV piracy. Data related to the last week of March 2020 reveal that film piracy rose by 66 percent compared to the last week of February 2020. Similarly, TV piracy grew by 41 percent compared to the week prior to the national lockdown.

A survey from April 2020 asked Italians if the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown influenced their gaming behavior. Data reveal that more than half of respondents aged between 18 and 34 years claimed to have dedicated more time to video games during the lockdown. Whereas 33 percent of respondents within this age group believed that their gaming time increased, about 22 percent of interviewees aged 18 to 34 claimed that the time spent to play video games rose significantly during the lockdown.

At the end of February 2020, the Italian government started to implement measures aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Among these measures, the closing of most workplaces forced whoever could to work from home. For many Italians this was a drastic change of habits from their work routine, but how widespread was remote working before the lockdown? A survey conducted in May 2020 tried to answer this question and found that the majority of respondents never worked from home before February. Only some 20 percent of the respondents declared to be working from home at least once a week.

A survey from April 2020 asked Italians if the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown influenced their gaming behavior. Data reveal that about four in ten male respondents believed to have spent more time playing with video games than usaully. In particular, 14 percent of male interviewees claimed that the time dedicated to video games increased significantly. Similarly, four in ten female respondents stated that they dedicated more time to gaming. In this case, 12 percent of female interviewees thought that the gaming time increased remarkably during the lockdown.

Everyeye.it is an Italian website focusing on video games, esports, cinema and tv series. As of March 2020, it registered more than 9.2 million unique users, as well as 4.8 million views on its Twitch channel, and 2.6 million views on its YouTube channel. In April 2020, the website published a study analyzing the percentage change in user engagement during the lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, compared to figures recorded from February 13 to March 8, 2020. Data show that the Instagram engagement rose by 200 percent, while the amount of users reading news on the website rose by 55 percent from March 8 to April 2, 2020. Moreover, the number of users sharing news increased by 37 percent during the lockdown. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

In 2020, the number of monthly visitors to State museums and similar cultural institutions in Italy declined sharply over the previous year, due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In March 2020, the Italian government put in place a national lockdown to contain the spread of the virus. During the lockdown, cultural institutions were closed, thus resulting in a 100 percent drop in March 2020 over the same month of 2019. As the lockdown was gradually eased in May, this scenario improved during the summer, though a significant year-on-year decline was still recorded between July and September. As the number of COVID-19 infections rose again in October, the government imposed new restrictions. In December 2020, the number of visitors to State museums and similar facilities then fell by 94.8 percent over 2019.

During the complete lockdown due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Italian consumers appeared quite worried of running out of food and other consumer goods. Between February and March 2020, Italy experienced a significant growth in retail sales value, included the private label sector. As of march 22, the year to date (YTD) change in sales value amounted to 12.9 percent. Further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Italy can be found here.

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.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit Italy hard. The country was one of the first Western states to register cases between the end of January and the beginning of February 2020, and, at the pandemic's early stages, Italy recorded higher mortality rates than most countries. Moreover, restrictions imposed by the government to contain the virus from spreading, including a full nation-wide lockdown in the spring of 2020, changed Italians' daily life considerably. The whole situation proved to be burdensome for regular citizens. In a survey carried out one year after the the pandemic started, 55 percent of the respondents reported a worsening in their emotional and mental health, against just eight percent who declared their well-being had improved.

At the beginning of March 2020, the Italian government imposed a national lockdown in order to reduce the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. In May, the authorities started to ease gradually the restrictions. A research conducted in June 2020 reveals that the estimated number of illegal streams during the lockdown in Italy rose significantly compared to 2019 figures. Data show that on average Italy registered 69 million illegal streams over a two-months period in 2019. During the lockdown, it was estimated that the number of illegal streams reached 243 million.

The Italian national health care faced a huge challenge as the country was the first in Europe to be severely hit by COVID-19. According to survey conducted in June 2020, 21 percent of Italian respondents believed that the system stood up to the challenge, whereas 13 percent of respondents believed the opposite. There seemed to be a wide acknowledgment of the need for more resources in public health. Indeed, 52 percent of respondents shared the need for more personnel and only three percent of respondents reported that the national system did not need any additional funding. Furthermore, 26 percent of respondents declared that higher salaries should be granted to medical staff. While the medical staff was put under the spotlight of national media, calls for modernization and strengthening of hospitals were also heard.

Give telemedicine a chance

During the COVID-19 emergency in Italy, many patients in need of care and consulting could not access health services the way they used to in the past. For this reason, the interest in telemedicine to treat patients increased among physicians and General Practitioners (GPs). According to a survey conducted in June 2020, the share of physicians interested in carrying out tele-examinations in the future reached 34 percent. General Practitioners (GPs) shared the same interest in the use of telemedicine. According to the same survey, the share of GPs interested in carrying out tele-examinations in the future reached 54 percent.

COVID-19 effect on telemedicine

The coronavirus emergency appears to have helped change the attitude towards telemedicine. In general, the restrictions and lockdown implemented exposed the increasing need to use digital tools to communicate with patients, both for GPs and medical specialists. Surveys also showed that for some medical examinations and/or consultations an in-person appointment is not always necessary. This opinion was also shared by both GPs and medical specialists.

The Excel file contains the data for the paper "Fear of infection and the common good: COVID-19 and the first Italian lockdown". This paper is currently under review. The original data came from the paper "Flesia L, Monaro M, Mazza C, Fietta V, Colicino E, Segatto B, et al. Predicting Perceived Stress Related to the Covid-19 Outbreak through Stable Psychological Traits and Machine Learning Models. J Clin Med. 2020;9(10)."