Italy has recorded more coronavirus-related deaths than anywhere else in the world, although health authorities say it is too soon to say if it is about to see a peak.
More than 69,000 people have tested positive in Italy, with 5,249 new cases reported on Tuesday.
Many of the deaths are in the Lombardy region, with the city of Bergamo the worst-hit.
Meanwhile, India has announced a “total lockdown” of its population of 1.3 billion people in the fight against coronavirus, as the World Health Organization warned the US may become the new global epicentre of the pandemic.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued the most extensive stay-at-home order yet in the battle against COVID-19 as he ordered a 21-day lockdown from midnight in the country.
In a televised address, Mr Modi said: “To save India and every Indian, there will be a total ban on venturing out of your homes.”
He added that if the country failed to manage the next 21 days, it would be set back by 21 years.
Indian health officials have reported 469 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, and 10 deaths.
It comes after a spokeswoman for the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the US could soon see a surge akin to those experienced across Europe.
More than 46,000 cases and 530 deaths have been reported in America, with more than 20,000 in New York state alone.
Health officials and leaders also warned the world is now hitting the stage that will determine how badly each nation will be affected by COVID-19.
Countries in Europe and North America are pressing ahead with stay-at-home restrictions which affect 1.5 billion people worldwide.
WHO chiefs say there is still time to slow the spread of the virus.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said we are “not helpless bystanders” and we can still “change the trajectory of this pandemic”.
In New York – one of the world’s biggest virus hotspots – authorities rushed to set up thousands of hospital beds they will need to protect the city’s 8.4 million people.
The city’s hospitals are around 10 days from shortages in basic supplies, while governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans to convert a convention centre into a hospital.
“This is going to get much worse before it gets better,” he said.
Mr Cuomo also announced two experimental medical interventions in a bid to battle back against the illness before more sophisticated therapies are developed.
Health officials are planning to collect plasma from people who have recovered after contracting coronavirus and inject the antibody-rich fluid into patients still battling COVID-19.
Another therapy involves antibody testing in order to send survivors back to work.
Mr Cuomo said the test “shows promise”, but added that it was “only a trial for people who are in a serious condition”.
The latest WHO warning comes as the number of coronavirus deaths in Spain has risen by 514 to 2,696, with more than 6,000 new cases also reported.
There have now been 39,673 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country, up from 33,089 on Monday.
The coronavirus has continued to surge in Spain, forcing a nationwide lockdown that has closed shops and bars and prevented more than 46 million people from leaving their homes.
Funeral homes have been left well over capacity as hospitals struggle to cope with the influx of critically ill patients, meaning an ice rink at the Palacio de Hielo shopping mall in Madrid is now being used as a makeshift morgue.
Members of the country’s military emergency unit have been seen leaving the venue in protective suits.
Spain had also seen a significant rise in cases on Monday, with 4,517 more people diagnosed with COVID-19.
That spike came despite signs that the upward trend in other European nations may be levelling off, with Germany saying its infection curve could have been flattened by social distancing measures.
