MILAN — The number of new positive cases of coronavirus identified in Italy narrowed in the last 24 hours almost in proportion to the lower number of tests.

Italy reported 1,008 new positives on Monday, the first day of school in most of the country after breaks of six to seven months, down by 30% from the previous day. During the same period, testing dropped by 37% to just over 45,000, according to Health Ministry statistics.

The number of confirmed positives has edged up for the last six weeks, mostly discovered during testing of returning holidaymakers. Most are asymptomatic, although the number of people in the hospital and in intensive care units is also edging up, with 80 more hospitalized in the last 24 hours and 10 more in intensive care. Fourteen people died in the period, bringing the pandemic total to 35,624 known victims.