The first case was reported in late January, with new reported deaths peaking at 969 on March 27th, and new reported cases peaking at 6,557 on March 21st. This data has been collected and reported by the Italian Department of Civil Protection. Northern Italy was hit the hardest by the virus, with The cities of Milan, Bergamo, and Brescia seeing the highest total number of cases. The hardest hit regions saw a rate of over 1 in 100 residents testing positive for the virus.These statistics may be significant underestimates according the the Department of Civil Protection itself, as well as at least one study conducted by the Italian National Institute of Statistics. An important challenge to accurate data collection was the delayed expansion of testing.