Europe

VERONA /Italy/, March 14. /TASS/: Il-76 planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces have brought back to Russia more than 70 Russian servicemen who helped to tackle the novel coronavirus outbreak in Italy, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

"Starting from May 8, more than 70 servicemen and 19 pieces of special-purpose military equipment, have been brought from <...> the Verona Villafranca Airport," the ministry said.

A total of 10 Russian planes have already arrived from Verona.

MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/: The number of COVID-19 cases in Russia has risen by 9,974 over the past day to 252,245, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Thursday.

For the first time since May 2, the number of coronavirus cases recorded per day in the country was less than 10,000.

According to the crisis center, the daily growth in cases has dropped from 4.3% to a record low of 4.1%.

Moscow has confirmed 4,712 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total tally to 130,716. The daily growth in infections in the capital reached 3.7% against 3.9% a day earlier.

PARIS, May 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France on Wednesday reported a drop in coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours compared with previous days, as its overall toll passed the 27,000 mark.

The new deaths brought the total toll in hospitals and nursing homes from the pandemic in France to 27,074, the health ministry said.

But the ministry also acknowledged a counting error has revised down the toll in nursing homes by 15 people from the day earlier, adding it did not yet have a toll from nursing homes for Wednesday.

GENEVA, May 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Pinning down the source of the coronavirus pandemic should help in working out how COVID-19 has “invaded the human species” so quickly, a senior WHO official said.

The outbreak has triggered a fierce diplomatic spat between China and the United States — with the World Health Organization at the centre of the row.

In late March, US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping struck an informal truce in the war of words over the origin of the deadly disease.

LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom is on a similar level to France, Italy and Spain on COVID-19 deaths per million but Belgium is worse, a junior British health minister said on Thursday.

“If you look at the death rate per 100,000 or per million, actually we are on a similar level to France, Italy, Spain, Belgium is above us, the United States is below,” Edward Argar, a junior health minister, told Sky News.

“Different statistics can be portrayed in different ways,” he said.

GENEVA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Officials of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that it is hard to predict when the pandemic will be over, but countries should stay positive and collaborate closely.

"We have a new virus entering the human population for the first time, and therefore it is very hard to predict when we will prevail over it." Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said on Wednesday at a press conference in Geneva.

BERLIN, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Europe's largest tourism group TUI intends to cut around 8,000 jobs due to the collapse of business caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the company headquartered in Hannover announced on Wednesday.

"TUI should emerge from the crisis stronger. But it will be a different TUI and it will find a different market environment than before the pandemic," said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fritz Joussen.

LISBON, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Wednesday encouraged all industries to restart under strict conditions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Lusa News Agency reported.

After their joint visit to automotive assembly plant Autoeuropa, the two leaders expressed their confidence in the resumption of production of the car producer.

After a six-week break, Autoeuropa, the largest national exporter last year, resumed its car production last week with two shifts.

BRUSSELS, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

LONDON -- British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak warned Wednesday that Britain faces a "significant recession" after official figures showed the country's economy shrank by 2 percent in the first quarter of the year.

MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/: Officers of the US embassy and other diplomatic missions cannot give evidence on the case of US citizen Paul Whelan, who is currently in custody in Russia on suspicion of espionage, although his defense planned to interview them as witnesses, Whelan’s defense attorney Olga Karlova told TASS on Wednesday.