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-- Italy recorded its lowest levels of new infections and deaths since early March.
-- Coronavirus death toll tops 28,000 in France.
-- Portuguese health official has asked citizens to be prepared to live with novel coronavirus as it will not disappear on its own.
-- The British government has launched the "UK Biobank study" to further track the extent of the novel coronavirus spread across the country.
BRUSSELS, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.
Staff members of a cafe measure table distances according to government standards in Fiumicino, Italy, May 16, 2020.(Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua)
ROME -- Italy's Ministry of Health on Sunday reported 675 new cases and 145 deaths over the last 24 hours, down from 875 new cases and 153 deaths on Saturday, and 802 and 165, respectively, a week ago.
The total for new infections announced Sunday was the lowest since March 4, and the death total was the lowest since March 9. Italy's national lockdown, the first peacetime lockdown in Europe, went into effect on March 10.
On Monday, the third and largest easing of the ten-week-old lockdown will go into effect. But schools will remain closed. The current plan is for them to reopen only in September.
A man rides a bicycle at the Trocadero Palace in Paris, France, May 15, 2020.(Xinhua/Gao Jing)
PARIS -- With 483 additional coronavirus-related deaths registered on Sunday, France saw its overall toll of the epidemic rise to 28,108, the Health Ministry said.
The number of people in hospital with coronavirus infection fell to 19,361 from 19,432 on Saturday, consolidating a continued decline now entering its seventh week.
A worker wearing protective gear disinfects a metro train at a maintenance workshop in Lisbon, Portugal, May 7, 2020. (Photo by Pedro Fiuza/Xinhua)
LISBON -- Portugal's Director-General of Health Graca Freitas said on Sunday that it is better for citizens to be prepared to live with the novel coronavirus as it will not disappear on its own.
She explained that whether a vaccine turns up or not, it is expected that "human beings gain immunity and the virus becomes less aggressive."
"If we have a vaccine, the better. If not, we will have to live with the virus until we have natural immunity," she added.
A man walks past posters encouraging people to have faith during the coronavirus outbreak in London, Britain,April 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
LONDON -- The British government announced on Sunday that it has launched the "UK Biobank study" to further track the extent of the novel coronavirus spread across the country.
Each month, participants will be asked to provide a sample of blood using a finger-prick device, and to complete a short questionnaire about any relevant symptoms they may have experienced. The de-identified samples will be returned to the UK Biobank for processing before being sent for validated antibody testing at the University of Oxford.
The first results from initial participants are expected to be available in early June, said the government.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
