Pakistani man dies of coronavirus in Italy

ISLAMABAD – A 61-year-old man from Pakistan has died of novel coronavirus in Italy, the country's Foreign Office said on Wednesday.

Imtiaz Ahmed, who has become the first Pakistani coronavirus casualty outside the country, had been living in the European country for past few years.

He passed away in Brescia, about a 100 kilometres from Milan, an FO spokesperson said, adding that the Pakistani Consulate in Milan was in touch with the concerned family, as well as the authorities in Italy.

In the past 24 hours, Italy recorded the highest toll in a single day since the start of the outbreak in the country, with 168 more people died of COVID-19 infection.

The whole of Italy - a country of some 60 million people - was placed under quarantine as the government stepped up efforts to tackle the coronavirus outbreak that has killed 631 people and affected more than 10,000.

Globally, more than 4,000 people have died from the coronavirus and over 113,000 cases have been confirmed, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). About 64,000 people have recovered around the world.