There is so much misinformation out there about this situation, I think skepticism of any report is not an unreasonable position. The Italian media has been criticised for drumming up panic.
(1) Article in German, shared by Germany's top virologist (1b), the guy who literally developed the test for the corona virus https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/panorama/aus-dem-co...
(1b) https://twitter.com/c_drosten/status/1237650201323737088
(2) many sources, but see e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization_rank...