San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Britain’s death toll hits 20,000
Britain’s confirmed tally of hospital deaths among people with the coronavirus has topped 20,000, making it the fifth country to reach the grim milestone.
The government says 20,319 people with COVID19 have died in British hospitals, an increase of 813 from the day before. The figure doesn’t include deaths in nursing homes, which are likely to number in the thousands.
Britain is the fourth European country after Italy, Spain and France to reach 20,000 deaths. The United States has recorded more than 50,000 coronavirus fatalities.
There are signs the U.K. outbreak has peaked, with the number of people hospitalized with the coronavirus declining. But the government says it is too soon to ease a nationwide lockdown imposed on March 23 and extended to May 7.
ITALY
Voices unite on Liberation Day
Italians celebrated the 75th anniversary of their country’s liberation from World War II occupation forces by emerging on balconies and rooftops to sing a folk song linked to resistance fighters.
Citizens played recordings of “Bella Ciao” or sang to mark Liberation Day, which is a national holiday. The traditional marches and other memorial gatherings were banned due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In Rome, Italian Air Force jets flew overhead, trailing smoke colored with the red, white and green hues of the Italian flag.
The government’s commissioner for the pandemic, Domenico Arcuri, cautioned Italians: “All must understand that we’re not fully liberated from the virus.”
CHINA
No new deaths in 10 days
For the 10th straight day, China reported no new deaths from the coronavirus.
Twelve new cases were reported on Saturday, 11 of them brought from overseas and one local transmission in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang bordering on Russia, according to the National Health Commission.
Just 838 people remain hospitalized with COVID19 while another 1,000 people are undergoing isolation and monitoring for being either suspected cases or having tested positive for the virus while showing no symptoms.
China, widely believed to be the source of the global pandemic, has reported a total of 4,632 deaths among 82,816 cases.
INDIA
Stores reopen as controls ease
India on Saturday allowed neighborhood stores that many of the country’s 1.3 billion people rely on to reopen.
The relaxation of the nation’s strict lockdown came with major caveats. It did not apply to hundreds of quarantined towns and other hot spots that have been hit hardest by the outbreak that has killed at least 775 people in the country.
Last week, India also allowed manufacturing and farming to resume in rural areas to ease the economic plight of millions left jobless.