Italy sets new COVID cases record, surpassing 100,000 for the first time

ROME - Italy reported 126,888 new cases of coronavirus Thursday, the first time the country has recorded more than 100,000 cases in one day.

A previous record had been set on Wednesday, with 98,030 cases. However, Thursday's increase was the largest in one day during the two years of the pandemic.

Thursday's total represents more than 2 percent of a total of nearly 6 million cases recorded since the start of the pandemic.

The high total in Italy is part of a wider trend across Europe, fueled mostly by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant of the virus.

Italy ranks third in the total number of COVID-19 infections in the European Union, behind only France and Germany.

The increases are coming despite a broadly successful vaccination rollout. As of Thursday, nearly 86 percent of the population over the age of 12 had been fully vaccinated in the country.