The death toll and new COVID-19 infections have shot up again in Italy which has become the country with the most deaths related to the coronavirus

(Claudio Furlan/La Presse via AP)

Italy saw 427 more deaths and 5,322 more infections for overall totals of 3,405 deaths and 41,035 infections; a little more than half of China’s confirmed cases.

Italy, with its population of 60-million, has roughly 150 more deaths than China, whose population is over 20-times larger.

This happened on the same day Wuhan, China recorded no new infections.

U.N. and Italian health officials cite a number of reasons for Italy’s high toll, including its large elderly population, which is especially susceptible to developing serious complications from the virus.

Italy has the second oldest population in the world after Japan’s, with 87% of Italy’s dead over the age of 70.

A visiting Chinese Red Cross team is also criticizing the failure of Italians to fully quarantine and take the national lockdown seriously.