The Italian Health Ministry said 649 people had succumbed to the virus in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 64,036.
The country also recorded 19,903 new cases of the virus for a total of 1,825,775 cases.
Worldwide, the United States has reported the highest number of virus-related deaths, with 295,539 as of Saturday, followed by Brazil, India and Mexico.
According to the official tally for Europe, Italy overtook Britain, which reported 64,026 deaths on Saturday, followed by France with 57,567 and Spain with 47,624.
“I am worried about the two weeks of Christmas holidays,” Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza warned.
“We are up against a dramatic pandemic which is ongoing – the battle still has not been won.”
Under Italy’s latest emergency decree, the government tightened the coronavirus rules over the Christmas holidays, as well as keeping many existing measures in place, as it seeks to avoid a new spike in infections over the holidays.
Italy was the first European country to suffer a wave of coronavirus infections earlier this year, and imposed a nationwide lockdown.
The UK’s toll overtook that of Italy on May 6, with close to 30,000 fatalities, and for a while over the summer, it appeared that Italy had weathered the storm.
But despite the introduction of mass testing, cases began rising again in early autumn.
Among the reasons cited for Italy’s high death toll was it that was the first country in Europe to be slammed in the pandemic, leaving health workers to grapple with a largely unknown virus.
Italy also has a lower ratio of medical staff to patients compared to other European nations.
Furthermore, public health officials argue that Italy has the world’s second-oldest population after Japan, and the elderly are the most vulnerable to the virus.
The average age of Italian COVID-19 victims has hovered around 80.
In addition, 65 per cent of Italy’s victims had three or more other health problems before they tested positive, such as hypertension or diabetes, according to Italy’s Higher Health Institute (ISS).
With ANSA
