Coronavirus: European cases top 1.5 million, nearly half of global total

Europe’s confirmed coronavirus cases topped 1.5 million on Saturday, accounting for nearly half of the global total. With about 1,506,853 infections, which includes 140,260 deaths, Europe remains the hardest-hit continent. Spain has the most cases, while Italy has the most fatalities. Spain has 215,216 cases and 24,824 deaths, Italy has 207,428 cases and 28,236 deaths, Britain has 182,260 and 28,131.fatalities and France has 167,346 cases and 24,594 deaths. While Germany with 161,703 infections makes up the fifth European country with over 150,000 cases, it has been praised for its response to the virus, including mass testing and contact tracing, and recorded just 6,575 deaths. Russia on Saturday reported its largest increase in coronavirus cases with new infections rising by almost 10,000 in one day. With 9,623 new infections the number of confirmed cases has risen to 124,054, Russian authorities said. However, the official fatality rate in the country remains low compared with some other European nations – 57 people died in the last 24 hours in Russia and its total death toll is 1,222. Segei Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, where the country’s contagion has been most prevalent, warned that the city was not yet past the peak of the outbreak. The capital recorded 5,358 new cases, bringing its total tally to 62,658. Mr Sobyanin added that about 2 per cent of the city’s population had coronavirus. Although British Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared on Monday his country was "past the peak" of its coronavirus epidemic, the UK recorded 621 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday. Mr Johnson will set out how the government plans to ease its coronavirus restrictions next week. Meanwhile, Spain recorded 276 deaths in the last 24 hours, marking its third consecutive day of recording less than 300 deaths per day from the illness. The country has been gradually easing its lockdown restrictions. For the first time in seven weeks, adults are now permitted to go out and exercise, as long as they adhere to social distancing rules. Spain’s lockdown – one of the strictest in Europe – began easing for children a week ago. However, exercise slots remain limited, with different times allocated for different age groups. Most adults can walk or play sports between 6am and 10am, and between 8pm and 11pm. Ireland's government on Saturday also signalled it planned to shortly ease its social distancing measures. From Tuesday, people over 70, who are seen as more vulnerable to the virus, will able to leave their homes as long as they avoid contact with others. The 2-kilometre limit on how far people can move from their homes will be extended to 5km. In a live address to the nation on Friday evening, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar also announced a five-stage process from May 18 to re-open the country in a slow but careful way. The Irish premier warned that if the country relaxes the restrictions too quickly, it may risk a second wave of the virus. "If we relax the restrictions too soon, we could see our ICUs overcrowded," he said. "Everything we achieved would be lost, so we must go on a short time more." Ireland had recorded 20,833 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Saturday, and 1,265 deaths. The number of new coronavirus cases in Germany rose at its slowest pace in four days on Saturday and the country reported the fewest deaths in five days. There were 1,068 more cases taking the country's total to 164,077, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Deaths rose by 113 to 6,736 and the death rate remained at 4.1 per cent of those infected. On Thursday, the country announced it would allow playgrounds, zoos, museums and churches to reopen but will maintain most other restrictions, including an international travel ban. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the easing of the lockdown will be reviewed on May 6.

Coronavirus: European cases top 1.5 million, nearly half of global total

Russia recorded its highest number of new cases on Saturday