Pope asks to pray for homeless during pandemic

Pope Francis on Tuesday asked the faithful to pray for the homeless who don't have place to stay at a moment when people are being made to stay at home over the spread of the new coronavirus.

"(Let's pray) because society, men and women, realise this is their reality, and for the Church to welcome them," said the Pope during his morning Mass in the Santa Marta residence where he lives inside the Vatican.

Italy saw a continued slowdown in the rate of its new confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday while registering a record number of people cured as it entered its third week of a nationwide lockdown.

Another 812 people died on Monday, bringing Italy's toll to 11,591 and maintaining its position as the country with the most dead, keeping its place as the European epicentre of the pandemic and second only to the US.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and could lead to death.