CORONAVIRUS: Italy announces 627 more deaths as disease kills Congolese music legend

Health authorities in Italy have announced 627 more deaths arising from the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus also known as COVID-19 as the new death toll from the disease has surpassed 5,000 in Europe.

Reports say the 627 more deaths recorded by Italy on Saturday (the new epicentre of the pandemic) raises its total to 4,032 making it the biggest day-to-day increase in the country’s four-week epidemic.

In Spain, the death toll has also increased to more than 1,000, while in Iran, the number of fatalities hit another grim milestone of more than 1,400, as the country marks the beginning of the Persian New Year.

READ ALSO: BRAZIL: Hundreds of inmates escape from four prisons over COVID-19 restrictions

In a related development, Congolese music star Aurlus Mabélé, 67, whose fans call him the king of soukous – a high-tempo Congolese dance music popular across Africa, has died of COVID-19 in a hospital in France’s capital of Paris.

His daughter, French singer Liza Monet, tweeted on Friday that her father had died of coronavirus. “I am inconsolable” she wrote.

Fellow member of the super group Loketo, Mav Cacharel, also said on Facebook that he had died of coronavirus.

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