As the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic in early March 2020, alarmed readers asked Snopes to verify reports that nearly 200 people died in a 24-hour span in Italy as a result of the disease. Sadly it is true that between March 10 and March 11, 2020, 196 people died in Italy, which was suffering the worst outbreak of COVID-19 outside Asia. Reuters reported on March 11 that, “The death toll from coronaviruses in Italy has risen from 196 to 827, an increase of 31%, Civil Protection [Agency] announced today.”
Almost 200 people in Italy died from the coronavirus in a 24-hour period between March 11 and 12, 2020.