The new law came into effect on Thursday across Italy 

Lazio and Campania have already made mask wearing mandatory outdoors 

On Saturday, Italy saw 2,844 new cases, its highest daily count since April 

Italy has made it mandatory to wear face masks outdoors nationwide in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as new infections jumped to the highest daily tally since April.

The decree was approved at a cabinet meeting after a steady increase in cases over the last two months and came into effect on Thursday.

Several Italian regions including Lazio, around the capital Rome, had already made face masks mandatory.

Data from the Health Ministry showed 3,678 cases were reported in the last 24 hours, up from 2,677 on Tuesday and surging past the 3,000 mark for the first time since April 24.

Italy is still recording far fewer daily cases than other large European countries such as France, Spain and Britain.