People wearing face masks walk on Via dei Fori Imperiali in Rome, Italy, Oct 6, 2020. Photo:Xinhua

The Chinese Embassy in Italy on Friday urged Chinese nationals to remain vigilant against what it calls a more serious second wave of COVID-19 in the country, as nearly 100 Chinese and students have been infected with the coronavirus so far in several clusters.

Among those already infected, some are severely ill, the embassy said in the urgent notice, noting that the Chinese community has been impacted by the second wave of the epidemic far worse than the first one, which is a deeply painful lesson and an alarming situation.

The embassy added that there have been some clusters of infections in Chinese communities recently, which are believed to be related to gatherings brought about by the resumption of work and production. It reminded people to comply with the local epidemic control measures, ensure social distancing is maintained, protective clothing is worn and unnecessary contacts avoided.

The reminder from the Chinese embassy came as the number of new confirmed cases in a single day in Italy has been hitting record highs in recent days, and the number of deaths in the past week has increased by nearly 40 percent.

Italy reported a record high of 8,804 confirmed cases on Thursday. There were also 83 deaths, compared to 43 on Wednesday.

Europe, as a whole, has seen a strong resurgence of COVID-19. WHO statistics show that over 7.2 million confirmed cases have been reported in the continent so far and European governments have been forced to retake their epidemic control measures to stop the spread.

The Italian government has extended its state of emergency until January 31, 2021 and issued new measures over epidemic control, including making face masks mandatory while outdoors. Anyone found not wearing a face mask could be fined up to 1,000 euros ($1,170.3).

Private gatherings, amateur sports events, school tours and operations in ballrooms are still prohibited, and business hours of some venues have been shortened, according to the new measures.

The Chinese embassy urged those people who show symptoms or have been in contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 to undergo testing as soon as possible, and asked those infected people to report their conditions so the embassy could provide appropriate assistance.