Workers make protective suits for the NHS (National Health Service) at a factory in London, Britain, April 17, 2020. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)
The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.
ROME -- The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 22,745 lives in locked-down Italy, bringing the total number of cases, including fatalities and recoveries, so far to 172,434, according to the latest data released by the country's Civil Protection Department on Friday.
Addressing a televised press conference, Civil Protection Department Chief Angelo Borrelli said the virus has claimed another 575 lives over the past 24 hours, bringing the country's death toll to 22,745 since the pandemic first broke out in northern Italy on Feb. 21.
Borrelli explained a record high was registered in the daily number of people cured -- 2,563 more recoveries, taking the total to 42,727.
MADRID -- The number of new coronavirus cases and deaths recorded in the last 24 hours have both increased in Spain, health authorities said Friday.
A total of 188,068 people have been infected in Spain, after a rise of 5,252 new cases on Friday, more than 5,183 on Thursday, though the daily percentage increase dipped slightly from 2.9 percent to 2.8 percent.
According to the country's health ministry, Spain's death toll increased to 19,478, a daily rise of 585 compared with 551 on Thursday, with the number of recoveries now standing at 72,963.
LONDON -- Another 847 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died in hospitals in Britain as of Thursday afternoon, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 14,576, the Department of Health and Social Care said Friday.
As of Friday morning, 108,692 people have tested positive for the virus, marking a daily increase of 5,599, said the department.
During Friday's Downing Street press briefing, the government's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance noted that the number of new cases reported in hospitals has become flat over the last few days, and "we would expect this to start decreasing in terms of total number of cases".
BERLIN -- The rate of new infections with COVID-19 in Germany slightly picked up but remained below peak times as the number of confirmed cases increased by 3,380 within one day to 133,830, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Friday.
"The outbreak has, as of today, become controllable and more manageable again," said German Health Minister Jens Spahn at the RKI press conference on Friday.
"We have managed to bring back the dynamic growth to a linear growth," stressed Spahn. "The number of infections has decreased considerably, in particular the relative increases from day to day."
