Italy recorded a shocking spike in coronavirus deaths Friday with 969 new victims, the worst daily record for any country since the pandemic began. The infection rate however continued its downward trend, with the civil protection agency reporting nearly 86,500 confirmed cases in Italy -- a 7.4 percent increase, down from around 8.0 percent in previous days. Over 300,000 coronavirus cases recorded in Europe.

Italy's coronavirus epidemic could peak in the next few days, experts said Friday, but regional authorities warned the crisis was far from over, as four more frontline doctors died. Coronavirus Live Map: How to Track The Spread of COVID-19 Across The Globe With This Dashboard.

The national health institute (ISS) cautiously suggested lockdown measures to curb the spread of the disease -- which has claimed over 8,100 lives and infected some 80,000 people -- may soon bear fruit. "I want to be clear on one point. We have not peaked yet," the institute's head Silvio Brusaferro said.

"There are signs of a slowdown, which makes us believe that we are close, we could peak in the next few days." But virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco warned that would not translate into a go-ahead to ease lockdown measures.

The slight slowing in case numbers "should strengthen our desire to continue. We must not drop our guard." And Brusaferro said any lifting of strict measures would have to be done with extreme caution. "We'll have to take careful measures for some months in order to avoid the epidemic curve rising again," he said.

Italy's lockdown came into effect nationwide on March 9, extending strict measures put in place earlier across swathes of the north, where the epidemic began. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said last week that the measures taken to close schools, bars and restaurants and restrict movement would have to be prolonged beyond the original end-date of April 3, without specifying until when.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 27, 2020 10:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).