Europe

PRAGUE, May 3. /TASS/: The Czech Republic is looking at opening its borders with four neighboring states from July, aktualne.cz online media outlet said on Saturday citing Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek as saying.

"I would be glad if [the Czech Republic] could open borders with the four neighboring countries - Austria, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia - from July," he said. "We have made biggest progress in talks [on border opening] with the Austrians and the Slovaks. The most difficult talks will obviously be with Poland."

BERGAMO/Italy/, May 3. /TASS/: Russian and Italian servicemen have disinfected three retirement homes in the eastern part of Italy’s Brescia province, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

"The Russian Defense Ministry’s military specialists jointly with their Italian colleagues have carried out disinfection events in three medical facilities in the city of Brescia. The decontamination events involved more than 30 servicemen and seven units of special equipment," the ministry said.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 3. /TASS/: An evacuation flight from Thailand’s Phuket has landed at Platov Airport in Rostov-on-Don, Ural Airlines told TASS on Sunday.

"The flight from Phuket has arrived," the airline said.

On Saturday, a plane with 116 Russians onboard departed from Thailand to Yekaterinburg. This is another evacuation flight performed by the airline with the assistance of the Russian government, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Communications.

Ural Airlines has carried out a total of seven evacuation flights from Thailand since April 12.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: Russian and Turkish servicemen conducted a regular joint patrol mission in Syria’s al-Hasakah governorate, the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria said on Saturday.

The mission was conducted under the Russian-Turkish memorandum of understanding of October 22, 2019.

"A regular joint Russian-Turkish patrol mission was conducted along the route Delawi-Kara - Jilliqa - al-Firdaus - Akka - Shamsiyah - Akka - al-Firdaus - Jilliqa - Delawi-Kara in the al-Hasakah governorate," it said.

MINSK, May 2. /TASS/: Belarusian president’s press secretary Natalia Eismont said on Saturday President Alexander Lukashenko sees no need in being tested for the novel coronavirus because he is feeling well.

"I know that the president has not been tested for the coronavirus infection. There is no need in that," she said in an interview with the Belarus 1 television channel. According to the spokeswoman, the president is feeling well.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: Italy’s NATO and European Union allies were unable to help it combat the coronavirus epidemic and tries to discredit Russia accusing it of being guided by propaganda considerations when it sent its military medics to that country, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Saturday.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: The Nord Stream 2 AG company, which operates the Nord Stream 2 project, does not agree with the German Federal Network Agency’s preliminary decision to deny the company a waiver under the EU Gas Directive, the company’s spokesperson Jens Mueller told TASS.

"We are aware of the information shared by the German authority, BNetzA, with the participants in the procedure. We do not agree with this conclusion. We will wait for the formal decision of the authority and of course evaluate it and further actions to preserve our rights," he said.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: More than 2,900 novel coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the Russian armed forces and the defense ministry’s educational facilities, the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily bulletin on Saturday.

"In the course of large-scale testing in the Russian armed forces in a period from March to May 2, a total of 1,177 servicemen tested positive," the ministry said, adding that one servicemen is in serious condition, fourteen servicemen are in condition of moderate gravity, and the rest show no symptoms.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 793 to 162,496, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.

The reported death toll rose by 74 to 6,649, the tally showed.

BRUSSELS, May 2 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

LONDON -- Another 621 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 28,131, Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick said Saturday.

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

Chairing Saturday's Downing Street briefing, Jenrick said 182,260 people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Britain.