MILAN (Reuters) - Italy reported 501 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday against 467 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections decreased to 23,649 from 23,904. Some 356,085 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 351,221, the health ministry said. Italy has registered 109,847 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 3.6 million cases to date. Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 28,949 on Thursday, down from 29,180 a day earlier. There were 244 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 283 on Wednesday. The total number of intensive care patients were down to 3,681 from a previous 3,710.