CNBC reports that Italy's lockdown is set to be extended beyond the current end-date of April 3, the country's prime minister told the press, as its death toll rises at a record rate.

Speaking to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said measures taken to close schools, universities and to restrict movement throughout Italy would have to be prolonged.

"The total blockade will go on," Conte said. "The measures taken, both the closure of (public) activities and the ones concerning schools, can only be extended," he told the paper Thursday.

Conte's comments confirm speculation that the government would extend its current national lockdown further as the coronavirus outbreak in Italy worsens.

Under the lockdown rules, Italian citizens can only leave their homes to get food or medicines (grocery stores and pharmacies are the only stores that remain open), or to perform other essential services or to go to work. Most shops had been forced to close until March 25 but that deadline also looks set to be extended.