MILAN, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Italy reported a record daily number of new COVID-19 cases on Thursday at 219,441 against 189,109 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of coronavirus-related deaths fell to 198 from 231. Italy has registered 138,474 deaths linked to the virus since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, and has reported 6.975 million cases to date. There were 177 new admissions to intensive care units, sharply up from 132 on Wednesday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 1,467 from a previous 1,428. Before Christmas just over 1,000 patients were in intensive care. Patients in hospital with COVID-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 13,827 on Thursday, up from 13,364 a day earlier. About 1.14 million tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the last day, compared with a previous 1.09 million, the health ministry said.