UK’s ‘worst-case’ scenario nears as deaths pass 47,000
THE United Kingdom’s Covid19 death toll surpassed 47,000 yesterday.
The Office for National Statistics said 42,173 people had died in England and Wales with suspected Covid-19 as of May 15, bringing the UK total to 47,343 – which includes earlier data from Scotland, Northern Ireland, plus recent hospital deaths in England.
A death toll of nearly 50,000 underlined Britain’s status as one of the worst-hit countries in the pandemic.
In March, Britain’s chief scientific adviser said keeping deaths below 20,000 would be a “good outcome”. In April, it was reported that the government’s worst-case scenario was 50,000 deaths.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus has infected more than 5.5 million people across the world and killed more than 347,000, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin has said the military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II will take place on June 24.
Last month, he postponed the parade – traditionally held on May 9 in Moscow’s Red Square – because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Russia reported a record daily spike of 187 fatalities yesterday as the death toll ticked past 3,800 from more than 362,000 official infections.
Greece will reduce prices for ferry tickets from the mainland to the Greek islands on June 1, with a sales tax cut aimed at stimulating domestic tourism.
Ferry travel was opened on
Monday with capacity limits and distancing guidelines. Greece will open for international tourism on June 15.
Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron is to unveil new measures to rescue the country’s car industry, which has been hammered by the lockdown and the recession.
He tweeted that the government’s support for the national car industry, which includes brands such as Peugeot-Citroen and Renault, as well as parts suppliers, will increase “massively”.
“This is a part of our economy, thousands of jobs,” he said.
Spain’s foreign minister has said European Union members should agree to a common approach to open borders, re-establish freedom of travel in the Schengen Area, and define which countries outside it should be considered safe to travel from and to.
Arancha Gonzalez Laya told Spanish radio that restarting cross-border travel should be decided collectively even if countries in the EU are phasing out lockdowns at different dates. The minister said Spain is eager to welcome tourists.
For a seventh consecutive day, India has reported its biggest jump in coronavirus cases. The country’s health ministry reported a total of 145,380 infections, an increase of 6,535 from the day before, and 4,167 deaths, after an increase of 146.
Officials say the recovery rate has also risen above 40pc.
Most of the cases are concentrated in two neighbouring states in central India, Maharashtra, home to financial hub Mumbai, and Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state.