BRUSSELS, May 16 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.
PARIS -- France had registered 96 new deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, fewer than the previous two 24-hour periods, while the balance of the coronavirus-related hospitalization remains negative, France's Health Ministry said on Saturday.
According to the ministry, the 96 new single-day deaths were lower than 104 registered on Friday and 351 on Thursday. So far, 27,625 people have succumbed to the coronavirus-caused disease across France.
Meanwhile, France is now the world's fourth worst-hit country in terms of human loss caused by COVID-19 after the United States, Britain and Italy.
As of Saturday, the country had recorded 142,291 confirmed cases, a single-day increase of 372, slower than Friday's 563. A total of 61,066 patients had recovered and returned home since early March.
ROME -- The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations and intensive care (ICU) patients dropped in Italy over the past 24 hours, according to the latest tally posted by the Civil Protection Department on Saturday.
Recoveries rose by 2,605 from a day earlier, bringing the total to 122,810.
Nationwide, the number of active infections fell to 70,187, down from 72,070 on Friday.
Of those who tested positive for the new coronavirus, 775 are in intensive care, down by 33 from Friday, and 10,400 are hospitalized with symptoms, down by 392.
The death toll on Saturday was 153, bringing the total to 31,763 since the outbreak was first recorded in Italy's northern Lombardy region in February.
The total number of COVID-19 cases combining infections, fatalities and recoveries has risen to 224,760, up from 223,885 on Friday.
MADRID -- The Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare confirmed on Saturday falls in the number of new deaths from COVID-19 as well as new cases.
The total number of deaths in Spain rose to 27,563 after 102 people lost their lives to COVID-19 in the 24-hour period until 21:00 hours local time on Friday.
This was the lowest number of deaths in a 24-hour period since March 16, with 50 of the deaths in the regions of Madrid and Catalonia.
The same period also saw a slight fall in the number of new cases. The Health Ministry reported 539 new infections, down from 549 reported 24 hours earlier, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 230,698.
Also on Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he will seek a fifth and final extension of the State of Alarm, which was imposed on March 15 to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Speaking in a televised speech, Sanchez said the upcoming final State of Alarm, which will come into effect on May 24 if approved, will be "different" from others.
"It is expected to be the last State of Alarm. We are going to request in the Congress of Deputies that it should last for a month," he said. All the previous four extensions have been 15 days.
BRUSSELS -- With an increase of 47 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the novel coronavirus had caused a total of 9,005 deaths in Belgium since the beginning of the epidemic, said the public health institute Sciensano on Saturday.
Of the 9,005 deaths, 48 percent took place in hospitals, 51 percent in nursing homes, and about 0.6 percent elsewhere, according to Sciensano. Deaths in hospitals were all confirmed COVID-19 cases. Of the fatalities in nursing homes, 23 percent were confirmed by test while the other were presumed by symptoms.
Also in the past 24 hours, 345 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, raising the cumulative cases to 54,989 in Belgium.
