CHILLING pictures show the moment a man wearing a face mask was found collapsed on the street in Rome – as the country's coronavirus death toll rose to 5,476.
The man was found lying next to a bus stop in the Italian capital on Sunday night before being loaded into an ambulance and rushed to hospital by paramedics.
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The incident came after authorities in the country announced 651 new deaths in 24 hours – a rise of 13.5 percent, though down on a jump of 793 on Saturday.
The country has now seen more deaths from the pandemic than any other country.
It is not yet known whether the man was suffering from coronavirus or what happened after he was taken to hospital.
Sunday also saw the total number of cases in Italy rise by 5,560 to 59,138.
The vast majority of deaths have occurred in the northern region of Lombardy, where concerns have been raised about a "catastrophic" situation taking hold of the health system.
Soldiers have been drafted in to ferry bodies to cemeteries already struggling to cope with the numbers dying.
Photos taken in Bergamo show a convoy of military vehicles loaded with the coffins of those killed by the virus.
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Speaking to ITV, Connor McAnish, a British doctor working on an intensive care unit in the region, described an "endless stream" of patients.
"They’ve had to build a tent outside the hospital [and] there are burials about every 30 minutes in the cemetery," he said.
"With so many patients coming in, when someone dies it’s almost as if we say, 'Okay we couldn’t do anything for this person, now we can take another person and see if their condition will improve'.”
Reports had previously emerged from Lombardy of patients who would normally be in intensive care having to be left on wards without the resources to properly treat them.
Response systems are also receiving in excess of 2,500 emergency calls per day.
It also emerged over the weekend that Britain is exactly two weeks behind Italy in its coronavirus death toll.
On Saturday, the number of deaths from Covid-19 in the UK stood at 233, mirroring the figure in Italy on March 7.
HOW ARE LOCKDOWNS BEING ENFORCED IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES?
Countries around the world are now enforcing lockdowns and nationwide quarantines, but the punishments for flouting them vary from place-to-place
In Spain, residents face fines starting from £90 or even imprisonment if they disobey authorities.
A total of 350 arrests have been made and 31,000 fines handed out to people flouting the restrictions.
One couple caught having sex in a car told police they shared a flat with too many people to get intimate under lockdown, while another four people were fined after being caught taking it in turns to take the same dog for a walk.
The government has also said that any company that can help in the extra production of diagnosis material and protective equipment like masks, glasses, or gloves must contact them or face a fine.
Authorities in China, the first country in the world to report cases, earlier deployed a fleet of drones through which they could talk to people and encourage them to go home.
They also set up checkpoints on the streets and at the entrance of residence buildings where people had to get their temperature checked before passing.
In Italy, Europe's worst-hit country, authorities so far charged over 40,000 people with ignoring the lockdown.
The face fines of £190 and three-month prison terms.
In France, anyone caught outside without justification is being given a fine equivalent to £128, while repeat offenders face detention and ultimately imprisonment.
President Emmanuel Macron this week expressed concern that people were not understanding the severity of the crisis.
In Australia, fines as high as £25,000 could be handed out to people failing to isolate themselves appropriately.
The death toll in Spain has also now risen to 1,813, an increase of 394.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Health Minister Salvador Illa have both warned that "the worst has still to come", with hospitals now saturated and in need of fresh medical supplies.
Companies deemed "non essential" have also been closed down by the government.
Sanchez has said his country’s situation was now the most difficult since the 1936-39 civil war.
The country has been in lockdown since Sanchez announced a state of emergency last Saturday and limited people's ability to leave their homes.
Residents are allowed to travel to buy food or walk pets, but not to go for a jog or cycle, even alone.
Shops, restaurants, bars, and cinemas have all been closed and police are patrolling the streets to enforce the measures.
The coronavirus has infected more than 341,000 people globally and killed at least 14,700 since first breaking out in late December.
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