Italy has reported the fewest number of coronavirus deaths in a day for more than three weeks as it continues to fight the pandemic.

On Sunday it was announced that a further 431 people had died from the COVID-19 virus, the smallest figure since 427 deaths were recorded on March 19.

The number of new cases was 4,092 which is also significantly lower than when the country was at its peak and recording over 6,500 in a single day.

Despite the positive news, Italy will remain in lockdown until May 3 as it seeks to move past the worst period in the nation's recent history.

There was also good news in Spain as the number of new coronavirus cases dropped to its lowest point since March 22.

A total of 3,802 people were reported to have tested positive on Sunday, a dramatic drop from less than three weeks ago when there were in excess of 8,000.

Italy and Spain have seen a total of more than 37,000 deaths between them, however they do now appear to have overcome the peak of the disease.

The global total of those that have tested positive now stands 1,858,789, with 114,698 deaths.