Italy reports 67 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, 3,970 new cases

ROME, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Italy reported 67 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday, the same number as the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 3,970 from 3,377.

Italy has registered 130,488 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.65 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 3,796 on Wednesday, down from 3,937 a day earlier.

There were 40 new admissions to intensive care units, up from 38 on Tuesday. The total number of intensive care patients edged down to 513 from a previous 516.

Some 292,872 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 330,275, the health ministry said. (Reporting by Giulia Segreti, editing by Francesca Piscioneri)