Italy has become the first country in the European Union to register more than 30,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

It reported 243 new fatalities on Friday – down from 274 the day before – taking the total to 30,201.

The daily number of confirmed new cases fell slightly to 1,327, bringing the total number of infections to 217,185.

Restrictions have begun to ease around the county, but one doctor described the city of Milan as a time “bomb,” according to local media, BBC reported.

Italy has the third highest number of officially recorded coronavirus deaths in the world, after the United States and the UK – which is no longer a member of the EU.