Traffic congests the roads in Istanbul, late Friday, May 22, 2020, minutes before a four-day new curfew declared by the government in an attempt to control the spread of new coronavirus. (Photo: AP)

Italy on Saturday registered 669 new cases of COVID-19, two-thirds of them in the northern region of Lombardy, which has been the hardest-hit since the outbreak began.

Figures from the most recent 24-hour period since Friday evening saw 119 deaths registered. Officially, Italy has 32,735 deaths from COVID-19.

According to Health Ministry data, the latest cases raised the nation’s overall tally of confirmed coronavirus cases to 229,327. All of Italy’s regions, with the exception of Lombardy, registered no more than a few dozen new cases each on Saturday, and many regions had numbers of new infections in the single digits.

Eager to revive tourism, the government has said people will be allowed to resume travel between regions starting June 3, but travel restrictions could remain if there’s an uptick of infections.

Italy eased many stay-at-home restrictions on May 18, including allowing public Masses to be held and restaurants and cafes to serve sit-down customers.

Meantime, Turkey’s health minister announced 32 new deaths from COVID-19, bringing the country’s death toll to 4,308.

Fahrettin Koca also tweeted Saturday 1,186 confirmed infections in the previous 24 hours, the highest number of the week. The total number of infections has reached 155,686. The testing number also was the highest, with more than 40,000 performed.

Turkey’s transport minister said some intercity trains will resume limited operations on Thursday as the country readies to restart domestic tourism. Passengers will be required to obtain a travel certification code from a government phone application. Those above 65 and under 20 will also need to get an additional travel permit as a full curfew imposed on those age groups continues, except for a few hours each week.

Turkey’s minister of youth and sports announced all quarantine measures for Turkish citizens coming from abroad had been completed. Some 77,441 people were placed in mandatory quarantines in dormitories since March to curb the disease’s spread.