A resident walks past a poster thanking people in various professions during the epidemic in Paris, France, on April 14, 2020. (Photo by Aurelien Morissard/Xinhua)
The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.
ROME -- The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 22,170 lives in locked-down Italy, bringing the total number of cases, including fatalities and recoveries, so far to 168,941, according to the latest data released by the country's Civil Protection Department on Thursday.
Speaking during a televised press conference, Civil Protection Department Chief Angelo Borrelli confirmed that there were 1,189 new active coronavirus infections compared to Wednesday, bringing the nationwide total to 106,607.
PARIS -- A month after a national confinement was imposed, the coronavirus epidemic remains "dynamic" in France, claiming 17,920 deaths, a health official said on Thursday.
In an update, Health General Director Jerome Salomon announced that coronavirus combined death toll rose by 753 on a daily basis. A total of 11,060 patients died in hospitals, a daily rise of 417 compared with 514 on Wednesday. Fatalities registered in nursing homes totaled 6,860, up by 336.
In the last 24 hours, 2,641 more people were diagnosed with the COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, taking the tally to 108,847. Among them, 31,305 remained in hospitals, down by 474 -- the second such fall since the start of the epidemic on March 1.
LONDON -- The British government announced on Thursday that the current restrictive measures that aim to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus will remain in place for "at least three weeks".
Asserting that relaxing lockdown measures would lead to a resurgence of the virus, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and first secretary of state, told reporters that the government has decided relaxing the measures would make the economic impact worse, not better.
"We must keep up this national effort for a while longer... now is not the moment to give coronavirus a second chance," he said.
The death toll of those hospitalized in Britain who tested positive for the virus hit 13,729 as of Wednesday afternoon, a daily increase of 861, the Department of Health and Social Care said Thursday.
As of Thursday morning, 103,093 people in Britain tested positive for COVID-19, said the department.
LISBON -- Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Thursday declared in a televised national speech another extension of the State of Emergency until May 2, in an attempt to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Portuguese parliament approved the second extension earlier in the day.
The 15-day state of emergency, first of its kind in Portuguese history, was declared on March 18, and renewed on April 2 until April 17.
According to the Portuguese Constitution, the state of emergency cannot last longer than 15 days, but it can be renewed with the same time limit.
MADRID -- Both the numbers of new cases and deaths from COVID-19 have risen in the past 24 hours in Spain, according to data released by the country's health ministry on Thursday.
The death toll in Spain increased to 19,130 after 551 patients infected with COVID-19 died in the last 24 hours.
The country confirmed 5,183 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the tally to 182,816.
The ministry said that the total number of recovered cases has reached 74,797.
BERLIN -- The rate of new infections with COVID-19 in Germany continued below peak times as the number of confirmed cases increased by 2,866 within one day to 130,450, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Thursday.
At the height of the pandemic in Germany, more than 6,000 new COVID-19 infections were recorded on a single day by the RKI, the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.
The estimated number of people in Germany who had already recovered from COVID-19 rose by more than 4,400 within one day to 77,000 by Thursday, according to RKI. The number of deaths from the new coronavirus increased by 315 to 3,569 as of Thursday.
