A 72-year-old Italian priest has died of coronavirus after selflessly giving his own respirator to a younger patient he did not know.

Father Giuseppe Berardelli was the main priest in Casnigo, a municipality in the province of Bergamo which is now the epicentre of the worst Covid-19 outbreak in the world.

His parishioners reportedly bought him the respirator - which are in desperately short supply - after learning that he suffered with pre-existing health issues.

But the priest gave up the device after hearing of a younger patient who was struggling to breathe because of coronavirus, which has now killed more than 6 000 people in Italy.