Europe

MOSCOW, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) should not be used as a puck to settle political accounts, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Tuesday.

"The WHO should not become a puck to be passed back and forth pursuing goals other than those of building most efficient international cooperation against the pandemic," TASS news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying at a meeting with Russian lawmakers.

GENEVA, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA), the first of its kind that held virtually since the World Health Organization (WHO) was founded in 1948, ended on Tuesday with a strong global commitment to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his closing remarks that the focus of his organization now is fighting the pandemic with every tool at their disposal.

"At the end of the day, what matters is life. That should be at the center of everything we do, and everything we say," he said.

BRUSSELS, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

LONDON -- Another 545 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain as of Monday afternoon, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 35,341, Environment Secretary George Eustice said Tuesday.

The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.

Earlier in the day, Chancellor Rishi Sunak warned that Britain faces a "severe recession".

SEVASTOPOL, May 19. /TASS/: The Black Sea Fleet ships and submarines searched for a notional enemy’s subs during drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Tuesday.

"The crews of the diesel-electric submarines Rostov-on-Don and Kolpino of the Black Sea Fleet deployed to the sea for joint drills to search for and detect a notional enemy’s submarine. Under the combat training scenario, one of the submarines simulated an enemy sub while the crew of the second vessel searched for it," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/: The coronavirus spread situation in Russia is stabilizing. Moscow and the Moscow Region have reached the plateau on incidence statistics, says Yevgeny Timakov, chief physician of the "Lider Meditsiny" medical center, a pediatrician, infectologist and a vaccinologist.

"The situation [in Russia] is stabilizing. It is currently mostly stabilizing in Moscow and the Moscow Region," he said. "One could say that Moscow has reached the so-called plateau, both Moscow and the Moscow Region," he said on TV Tuesday.

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, who had been admitted to hospital with COVID-19, has resumed his duties, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree published on the Kremlin website on Tuesday.

Mishustin held several meetings in the format of a video conference while he was in hospital. Earlier reports said the prime minister was recovering and would be soon discharged from hospital. On Monday, the prime minister held meetings while in hospital.

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/: The number of coronavirus cases in Russia has risen by 9,263 over the past day and the daily growth in cases has not exceeded 10,000 for the fourth day in a row, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Tuesday.

To date, 299,941 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in all Russian regions.

According to the crisis center, the daily growth rate stood at a record low level of 3.2% like the day earlier.

PARIS/BERLIN, May 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France and Germany are proposing a €500bn European recovery fund to be distributed to EU countries worst affected by Covid-19.

In talks via video link, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed that the funds should be provided as grants.

The proposal represents a significant shift in Merkel’s position.

Macron said it was a major step forward and was “what the eurozone needs to remain united”.

BRUSSELS/LONDON, May 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Stumbling through video calls, the long-troubled Brexit talks are heading for a new crisis as coronavirus health restrictions bar the intense face-to-face meetings that have proven crucial in pulling the negotiations back from the brink.

With increasingly frustrated British and EU negotiators trading barbs over each other’s “ideological approach” and “lack of understanding” of the consequences of Britain’s departure from the bloc, talks on a new trade pact between the estranged allies have made virtually no progress in recent months.

LONDON, May 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in Britain soared to its highest level since 1996 in April, the first full month of the government’s coronavirus lockdown, data published on Tuesday showed.

The claimant count rose by 856,500 – the biggest ever month-on-month leap – to 2.1 million, a 69 per cent increase, the Office for National Statistics said.