Italy, UK send stark warnings: world cannot wait for vaccine
In separate, stark warnings, two major European leaders have bluntly told their citizens that the world needs to adapt to living with the coronavirus and cannot wait to be saved by the development of a vaccine.
The comments by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson came as governments worldwide struggled with restarting economies blindsided by the pandemic.
Pushed hard by Italy’s regional leaders and weeks in advance of an earlier timetable, Conte is allowing restaurants, bars and beach facilities to open today, the same day that church services can resume and shops can reopen.
‘‘We are facing a calculated risk, in the awareness . . . that the epidemiological curve could go back up,’’ Conte said. ‘‘We are confronting this risk, and we need to accept it, otherwise we would never be able to relaunch.’’
The daily death toll from the pandemic in Italy fell to 145 yesterday – the lowest since March 9, the Civil Protection Agency said.
Conte added that Italy could ‘‘not afford’’ to wait until a vaccine was developed.
Health experts say the world could be months – or even years – away from having a vaccine available to everyone, despite the scientific gold rush now on to create one.
Britain’s Johnson, who was hospitalised last month with a serious bout of Covid-19, speculated yesterday that a vaccine may not be developed at all, despite the huge global effort to produce one.
‘‘I said we would throw everything we could at finding a vaccine,’’ Johnson wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
‘‘There remains a very long way to go, and I must be frank that a vaccine might not come to fruition.’’
The UK said its death toll had risen by 170 yesterday to 34,636 – the lowest increase in the official death toll since March 24, though weekend figures are always lower due to recording delays.
Coronavirus has infected more than 4.6 million people and killed more than 312,000 worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Europe has registered at least 160,000 deaths.
Professional football matches in Germany’s Bundesliga resumed over the weekend, a move keenly watched by followers of the sport in the rest of the world.
Players were warned not to spit, shake hands or hug each other to celebrate goals. Team staff and substitutes wore masks on the bench, and balls and seats were disinfected.
Churches throughout Greece opened their doors to the faithful after two months on Sunday, while limiting the number of congregants and dispensing disinfectants.
Turkey allowed people over the age of 65 to leave their homes for up to six hours for only the second time since the lockdown started. The country’s health ministry confirmed 44 new deaths, bringing the total death toll to 4140.
Small shops were opening in most of Spain, which on Sunday reported only 87 new deaths, the lowest daily death count since March 16. Restrictions, however, remained tighter in Madrid and Barcelona, the hardest-hit areas.
In France, where the lockdown has been partially lifted, health authorities reported
483 new coronavirus deaths on Sunday, bringing the total to
28,108. – Agencies
‘‘We are facing a calculated risk, in the awareness . . . that the epidemiological curve could go back up.’’
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte