Italy's daily COVID case numbers have more than doubled in one day as 220,000 positive tests were recorded on Tuesday, a jump from 101,000 the previous day.
There were also 294 COVID-related deaths and 185 admissions to intensive care units.
Italy has recorded more than 7.7 million cases since the pandemic began.
The World Health Organisation predicts half of Europe's population will be infected with the highly transmissible variant Omicron by March.
