The number of new coronavirus cases and deaths in Italy ticked higher on Thursday, March 26. Officials said 712 people died of the illness in the last 24 hours, pushing the total tally to 8,215, well over double that seen in anywhere else in the world, while new infections rose by 6,153 to 80,539, Reuters reports.

The number of cases is nudging close to the more than 81,000 infections recorded in China where the pandemic began.

The relentless rise in Italy is despite stringent lockdown measures introduced progressively since Feb. 23 to try to stop the spread, which authorities had hoped would be having more of an effect by now.

The disease has also taken a heavy toll amongst medical workers, with the national federation of doctors and surgeons saying on Thursday that 40 doctors had so far died, many of them general practitioners in northern towns and cities.