Italy, the first European country to be hard-hit by the coronavirus, will allow some businesses to reopen as soon as this week while aiming to reopen manufacturing and construction from May 4, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.

Conte gave the most detailed outline yet of plans to reopen the economy, in a newspaper interview published on Sunday ahead of the government's roadmap out of lockdown, which he said would be released no later than early this week.

Italy, hit hard by the virus weeks before other major Western countries with a total death toll of 26,000, has been forced to serve as a model for how to fight it.

Coronavirus deaths in the country rose by 260 on Sunday, the smallest daily tally since March 14, the Civil Protection Agency said.