The ministry also reported 446 COVID-related deaths, up from 445 the day before.
A total of 40,638 people have now died because of COVID-19 in Italy, which has registered some 862,681 coronavirus infections since the start of its outbreak.
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy's financial capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 9,934 new cases on Friday against 8,822 on Thursday.
The neighbouring Piedmont region was the second-worst affected, chalking up 4,878 cases.