France sees sudden spike, Spain passes Italy; record deaths in US
France reported its deadliest day from the coronavirus outbreak amid tentative signs that the crisis may be easing in Spain and Italy.
The health ministry reported 588 hospital deaths on Friday, the most yet, bringing the figure to 5,091 since the beginning of the outbreak. The total number of fatalities in France now stands at 6,507, including 1,416 deaths from nursing homes.
On Saturday, Spain became the epicentre of the pandemic in Europe as the total number of cases surpassed Italy, with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announcing plans to extend the lockdown until April 25.
Confirmed cases increased by 7,026 to 124,736 over the past 24 hours, according to health ministry data. Total cases are now higher than Italy’s 119,827. In what could be a sign of hope, the number of new deaths in Spain declined for a second day, with an additional 809 fatalities in the past 24 hours for a total of 11,744.
Globally, the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has infected over 1.1 million people and killed at least 60,000.
With the US logging another huge rise in Covid-19 fatalities — with 1,480 deaths on Friday, the highest single-day fatalities in the world, the federal government begun advising people to wear masks if they go outside.
The total confirmed cases rose by 30,000 to go past 291,000. The US now has over 7,800 fatalities.
New York, the worst-hit US state, recorded its deadliest day as the toll rose to 3,565.
In China, the national flag flew at half mast and people were urged to maintain three minutes of silence and all forms of entertainment were suspended for 24 hours as the country observed Saturday as a national day of mourning for Covid-19 victims.
The UK, where the toll has been steadily increasing at over 500 fatalities a day this week, reported 708 more deaths in a new daily high.
TORONTO/BERLIN/WASHINGTON: The scarcity of safety equipment essential to the coronavirus fight is fuelling tensions between longtime transatlantic allies, with local officials in France and Germany accusing unnamed Americans of using unfair means to obtain protective masks.
Berlin’s state interior ministry blamed the US for confiscating 200,000 masks ordered from a US producer when they were in transit through Bangkok. French officials have accused unidentified Americans of paying over the odds to secure masks in China that had already been earmarked for France.
The US embassy in Paris said any suggestion that the government was involved in such practices was “completely false”. There was no response the allegations from the White House or the US state department.
“We view this as an act of modern piracy,” Berlin’s interior minister Andreas Geisel said. “You cannot act in such a way among transatlantic partners. Such wild west methods can’t dominate, even in a time of global crisis.”
With hundreds of western citizens dying each day, the incidents highlight the fundamental distrust between the US and Europe. It risks hampering efforts to collectively tackle the damage unleashed by a virus that has brought the world’s economy to a standstill.
The degree of suspicion also feeds into a narrative that it’s every nation out for itself as Europeans are also viewing with greater scepticism offers of help from Russia and China, wondering if there are strings attached.
In Canada, PM Justin Trudeau’s administration was also critical of the American government’s latest stand on the matter, calling the US measure a “mistake”. Canada’s deputy PM Chrystia Freeland said the government was “working very hard on getting shipments from 3M” and also from a “diversity of suppliers around the world”.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Thursday that his administration has seen orders cancelled as a result of the global shortage of protective gear.
Some French officials are blaming unidentified Americans for swooping in to outbid them as they try to secure supplies.
“A load was taken from us by Americans who overbid on a batch that we had identified,” Valerie Pecresse, regional president of Paris, told broadcaster LCI. “We pay on delivery because we want to see the masks, while Americans pay cash and without looking. Of course, this is more attractive for those who just seek to turn a profit on the back of the world’s distress.”