The record one-day death toll from the coronavirus takes the total number of fatalities in Italy to 1809.
While the virus has begun spreading rapidly across Europe, Italy remains the second most heavily affected country in the world after China, where the outbreak began.
The number of infections has reached a total of 24,747, Italy’s civil protection service said.
This figure includes the deceased as well as the 2335 patients who have fully recovered.
Italian health experts have predicted that the numbers will continue to rise in the coming days, with nationwide quarantine measures implemented last Tuesday expected to show results in around two weeks.
Almost all of Italy’s 20 regions have now recorded at least one death connected to the coronavirus, other than the two southern regions of Molise and Basilicata.
The northern region of Lombardy, home to Italy’s financial capital Milan, remains the European epicentre of the pandemic, officially reporting 1218 deaths, or 67 per cent of the Italian total and more than the rest of Europe combined.
With a population of 10 million, the region has also 13,272 infections and 767 people in intensive care.
Lombardy’s regional governor Attilio Fontana said the situation in areas around Milan was “getting worse”.
“We are close to the point where we will no longer be able to resuscitate people because we will be out of intensive care unit beds,” Fontana told Italy’s Sky TG24 channel.
“We need those machines [doctors] use to ventilate lungs, artificial respirators that unfortunately we cannot find.
“As soon as those respirators arrive from abroad, we will be ready to go on the attack.”
Milan mayor Beppe Sala said he had managed to secure shipments of surgical masks from China to address a growing shortage of equipment for medical staff.
“Milan has always had excellent relations with the main Chinese cities and I made a few phone calls over the past few days in search of masks,” Sala said.
“The first shipment arrived [on Friday] and we will now distribute them to doctors, to our staff.”
The European Commission also confirmed that a delivery of one million masks would be sent from Germany.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte insisted on Sunday that his government was paying “maximum attention” to the outbreak in the north and the strain it is placing on the healthcare system.
Conte said the government is working urgently on procuring more protective equipment, adding that there was maximum attention on helping Lombardy.
“Our priority is to keep doctors, nurses and all our health personnel safe,” he said in a statement a week after his government imposed a virtual lockdown across the country in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.
His government has pledged a package of measures to support businesses and families, such as parental leave pay and help for the self-employed, amid fears of a serious economic crisis.
The measures, originally due over the weekend, are now expected after a cabinet meeting on Monday.
The government said it was also in discussion with banks about a suspension of some family mortgage payments.
Italy has the most elderly population in Europe, with almost a quarter aged 65 and over, making it especially vulnerable to the virus.