Madrid, Sunday

Spain on Sunday reported 87 coronavirus deaths over a 24-hour period, the first time in two months that the daily toll has dropped below 100.

The number came a day before Spain is to further relax lockdown measures across the country, but not in Madrid and Barcelona.

European nations are cautiously lifting lockdown measures that had confined nearly half of humanity at home as Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the world. 

“For the first time in a long time we are below 100 which is good news,” said the head of the emergency health centre Fernando Simon.

At the height of the current outbreak in early April, Spain counted 950 deaths in one day.

Spain remains one of the countries hardest hit by the virus with a total of 27,650 deaths, the health ministry reported on Sunday. The number of confirmed cases was more than 231,000.

Italy is taking a “calculated risk” as it moves to further ease its coronavirus lockdown measures, PM Giuseppe Conte admitted Saturday.

He said “the contagion curve” could rise again, but the country could not afford to wait for a vaccine.

Conte announced that travel to and from Italy, and between the country’s regions would be allowed from June 3. 

Travellers from EU countries will be able to enter Italy without going into a two-week quarantine. Italian officials say 31,763 people have now died with the virus in the country, the third highest figure behind the US and UK. 

But Italy’s infection rate has fallen sharply in recent days.

Daily tolls

In the UK, the  Minister for the Cabinet Office since Michael Gove has insisted England’s schools are safe to reopen, but acknowledged that “you can never eliminate risk”.

The government has set out plans to begin a phased reopening of primary schools in England from next month.

England on Saturday enjoyed its first weekend after a partial easing of the coronavirus lockdown but people were warned not to flock to the countryside or seaside resorts, despite warmer weather.

Covid-19 deaths stand at 34,546 the second-highest in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University tally. 

Despite continued high daily tolls, Prime Minister Boris Johnson opted to partially lift lockdown measures in England.

Elsewhere in Russia, the growth of new coronavirus cases is stabilising, a top health official said Sunday as the daily tally fell under 10,000 for the third time this week.

The country has the world’s second highest number of infections at 281,752, topped only by the United States.

On Sunday, it announced new cases had dropped below 10,000 for the third day this week at 9,709.

“We’ve moved towards the level of stability that we’ve all been waiting for,” said the head of Russia’s public health watchdog, Anna Popova, in a televised interview.

In Asia, more than 2,000 police officers in Bangladesh have been infected with the coronavirus after tens of thousands were deployed around the country to enforce a lockdown. 

And a top Chinese medical official has said the country faces a potential second wave of coronavirus infections due to a lack of immunity among its population.

“The majority of… Chinese at the moment are still susceptible of the Covid-19 infection, because (of) a lack of immunity,” said Zhong Nanshan, the public face of the government’s response to the pandemic. -AFP and BBC