New hope in Italy as death rate slows around 10% a day

Spain has become the third country to surpass China in coronavirus infections after the United States and Italy. With a population of only 47 million to China’s 1.4 billion, Spain’s tally of infections reached 85,195 yesterday, a rise of 8% from the previous day.

Spain also reported 812 new deaths in 24 hours, raising its overall fatalities to 7,300.

The health systems in Italy and Spain have been crumbling under the weight of caring for so many desperately ill patients at once.

The two European nations have more than half the world’s 34,000 deaths from the virus that has upended the lives of billions of people and devastated world economies.

In a situation unimaginable only a month ago, Italian officials were cheered when they reported only 756 deaths in one day on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in a stark reversal of his previous stance, US president Donald Trump extended federal guidelines recommending that Americans stay home for another 30 days until the end of April to slow the spread of the virus.

The turnabout came after Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said up to 200,000 Americans could die and millions become infected if lockdowns and social distancing did not continue.

“We want to make sure that we don’t prematurely think we’re doing so great,” Dr Fauci said.

The US now has more than 143,000 infections and 2,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, while around the world almost 725,000 people are infected.

The true number of cases is thought to be considerably higher because of testing shortages and mild illnesses that have gone unreported.

In Italy, which has seen by far the most deaths from the virus worldwide, officials expressed cautious optimism that the drastic measures they have taken to keep people apart are having an impact.

Italy has reported 97,689 infections and 10,779 deaths so far, but on Sunday said the number of positive cases in the past day increased just 5.4%, and the number of deaths has shifted down about 10% a day since Friday.

“Make sure we don’t prematurely think we’re doing so great”

China’s national health commission yesterday reported 31 new Covid-19 cases, among them just one domestic infection.

At the peak of China’s restrictions, some 700 million people were in areas ordered to stay home, but those rules are easing.

New York State remained the epicentre of the US outbreak, with the vast majority of the deaths in New York City.

But infections were spiking not only in cities but in Midwestern towns and Rocky Mountain ski havens. West Virginia reported its first death, leaving only two states – Hawaii and Wyoming – with none linked to Covid-19.