Europe

ROME, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 6,820 lives in locked down Italy as of Tuesday with the cumulative total number reaching 69,176, according to new data released by the Civil Protection Department.

Speaking at a televised press conference, Civil Protection Department Chief Angelo Borrelli said Italy reported 5,249 new cases of coronavirus and 743 new deaths on Tuesday and that 54,030 people are currently positive for the coronavirus, one month after the pandemic broke out in northern Italy on Feb. 21.

LONDON, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Britain reached 8,077 as of Tuesday morning, according to the lastest figure from the Department of Health and Social Care.

A total of 90,436 people have been tested across Britain, of which 8,077 were confirmed positive, while 422 patients who contracted the novel coronavirus have died, said the department.

BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency said Tuesday that it is putting eight of its spacecraft into hibernation as it scales down operations during the coronavirus outbreak.

The agency said it is further reducing the already limited number of staff working on site at its mission control in Darmstadt, Germany. As a result, the instruments and data collection on some space probes are being temporarily stopped.

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: Russia has been invited to a G20 emergency summit on the coronavirus, scheduled to take place on March 26, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

When asked if the Kremlin had received an invitation to the event, he answered in the affirmative, adding that "preparations are underway."

G20 leaders are expected to hold a video conference on March 26 to discuss the coronavirus pandemic, Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported on Tuesday, citing Japanese government sources.

BERLIN, March 24. /TASS/: The emergency situation over the novel coronavirus pandemic may go on at least until the yearend, Frank Ulrich Montgomery, Chairperson of the World Medical Association’s (WMA) Council, said on Tuesday.

"This problem will obviously be with us until the end of the year," he said in an interview with DPA agency.

"We will have to rearrange our entire social life and labor activities until a vaccine against the infection is developed," he said, adding that he hailed the German government’s decision to limit social contacts.

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: At least 100,000 people, who contracted the coronavirus around the world, have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals, according to TASS data based on official statements by the authorities and experts in the coronavirus-hit countries.

The majority of recovered patients are in China, where the coronavirus pandemic started and where the peak of the outbreak has passed. Other countries registering the most cases are Iran, Italy and Spain. In Russia, 495 cases have been confirmed and 17 people have been discharged from hospitals.

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: The teams of Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile systems struck air targets during drills at the Kapustin Yar practice range in the Astrakhan Region, the press office of Russia’s Southern Military District reported on Tuesday.

"The anti-aircraft gunners conducted launches from Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile systems against high-altitude fast-moving targets that simulated the flight of the notional enemy’s tactical aircraft. Overall, about 10 targets were hit," the press office said in a statement.

PRATICA DI MARE /Italy/, March 24. /TASS/: Three more Il-76 planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces, carrying Russian military specialists and equipment who will help to tackle the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country, landed Italy’s Pratica di Mare airbase some 30 km southwest of Rome.

The planes are the 12th, 13th and 14th sent by Russia overall. The eleventh Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane arrived in Italy late on Monday.

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the planes brought equipment necessary for diagnostics and disinfection.

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/: Two Tupolev Tu-95MS strategic missile-carrying bombers of Russia’s Aerospace Force performed a scheduled flight in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Sea of Japan and the north-western part of the Pacific Ocean, the Defense Ministry of Russia reported on Tuesday.

"The flight lasted more than nine hours," the ministry said in a statement.

At some stages of their route, the Russian bombers were shadowed by fighters of the Japanese Air Force, the ministry said.

24 March 2020; AFP: Spanish soldiers deployed to help fight the new coronavirus outbreak have found elderly patients abandoned, and sometimes dead, at retirement homes, as an ice rink inside a Madrid shopping mall was turned into a temporary morgue to cope with a surge in cases.

The army has been charged with helping to disinfect retirement homes in Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. Dozens of deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded at facilities across the country.