Europe

PARIS, May 12 (Xinhua) -- France's death toll from the coronavirus reached 26,991 on Tuesday, overtaking Spain's 26,920 as it recorded 348 more deaths in the last 24 hours. France thus became the world's fourth worst-hit country in terms of deaths after the United States, Britain and Italy, data from the Health Ministry showed.

Meanwhile, some 21,595 are hospitalized, among them 2,542 are in intensive care units, down by 170, consolidating a downtrend reported since April 8.

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union unveiled Wednesday its plan to help citizens across the 27 nations salvage their summer vacations after months of tough coronavirus confinement and to hopefully resurrect Europe’s badly battered tourism industry.

Around 150,000 people have died across Europe and Britain since the virus surfaced in northern Italy in February, but with the spread of the disease tapering off, people in many countries are cautiously venturing out of confinement to return to work and some schools are reopening.

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government warned Wednesday of a “significant” recession after official figures showed the economy shrank 2% in the first quarter of the year even though it included just one week of the coronavirus lockdown.

ROME (AP) — Italy’s virus reopening was supposed to be accompanied by a series of measures to limit infections in the one-time epicenter of Europe’s pandemic: the distribution of millions of inexpensive surgical masks to pharmacies nationwide, a pilot project of 150,000 antibody tests and, eventually, the roll-out of a contact-tracing app.

None of these is in place as Italy experiments with its second week of loosening restrictions and looks ahead to Monday’s reopening of shops and, in some regions, bars and restaurants.

MOSCOW, May 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and was receiving treatment at the hospital, Russian news agencies reported.

“Yes, I am sick. I am receiving treatment,” Peskov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Peskov said he had last met Putin in person over a month ago, the TASS news agency reported. The Kremlin says Putin’s health is rigorously protected and that he gets the best medical treatment Russia has to offer.

PARIS, May 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The coronavirus pandemic has now claimed more than 290,000 lives worldwide, according to official sources at 2200 GMT on Tuesday.

In total, 290,477 deaths have been registered, with Europe accounting for 159,205 of them.

The United States is the worst-affected country with 82,105 deaths, followed by Britain (32,692), Italy (30,911), France (26,991) and Spain (26,920).

PARIS, May 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Thousands of schools reopened throughout France on Tuesday as the government eases its coronavirus lockdown rules despite some fears of a second waves of infections.

According to official figures there were 348 new COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, bringing the national total to 26,991.

Primary and nursery schools reopened however, with teachers wearing face masks and the children’s chairs separated to avoid spreading the disease.

BRUSSELS, May 12 (NNN-XINHUA) – France and Spain, on Monday, cautiously joined the ranks of European nations loosening COVID-19 restrictions, while the fear of a second-wave outbreak is hanging over.

The easing came a little shy of two months after the two governments imposed nationwide lock-down, to curb the virus pandemic, which so far claimed 26,643 lives in France and 26,744 in Spain.

The relaxation also came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that the global virus caseload passed the 4-million mark.“

MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/: All digital passes, issued earlier by Moscow authorities for working trips, which were previously in effect through May 11, have been automatically extended until May 31, Moscow’s IT department told TASS.

"All working digital passes, issued before May 11, have been automatically extended until May 31. We recommend citizens to check the validity of their pass on nedoma.mos.ru website, and make sure a correct car plate or transport card is bound to the pass," the press service said.

MOSCOW, May 12. / TASS /: The proportion of deaths in the world among patients with coronavirus increased by 3.5 times, and as of May 10, it amounted to 6.8%, said Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova on Monday.

"The proportion of deaths by the end of April increased almost 3.5 times and amounted to 6.8% as of May 10, 2020," she said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Russian Federation.