A clerk works in a coffee shop in London, Britain, May 17, 2020. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)
-- UK COVID-19 deaths top 35,000 as Britain faces "severe recession";
-- COVID-19 cases fall as Italy struggles to reopen;
-- Germany's COVID-19 cases rise to 175,210, death toll tops 8,000;
-- Spain reports slight increases in new virus cases, deaths.
BRUSSELS, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.
LONDON -- Another 545 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain as of Monday afternoon, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 35,341, Environment Secretary George Eustice said Tuesday.
The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.
Earlier in the day, Chancellor Rishi Sunak warned that Britain faces a "severe recession".
The Rinascente department store is reopened in Rome, Italy, May 18, 2020.(Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)
ROME -- A further 162 COVID-19 patients had died in the past 24 hours in Italy, bringing the country's toll to 32,169, out of total infection cases of 226,699, according to fresh figures on Tuesday.
Tuesday's number of deaths bounced from Monday's tally of 99, the first time Italy's daily casualties were lower than 100 since March 10. Italy also registered 813 new cases of infection nationwide in the 24-hour period.
Nationwide, the number of active infections fell by 1,424 cases to 65,129 cases, down from a total of 66,553 infections on Monday, according to the Civil Protection Department.
Pedestrians are seen in front of the Bode Museum in Berlin, capital of Germany, May 18, 2020, which marks the International Museum Day. (Photo by Binh Truong/Xinhua)
BERLIN -- New COVID-19 infections in Germany remained under last week's average as the number of confirmed cases increased by 513 within one day to 175,210, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Tuesday.
Over the course of last week, an average of 734 daily cases had been reported by the RKI, the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.
According to the RKI, the number of COVID-19 deaths in the country increased by 72 to 8,007 on Tuesday, resulting in a fatality rate of 4.6 percent.
An operator cleans and disinfects a street amid the COVID-19 outbreak in Barcelona, Spain, May 15, 2020. (Barcelona City Hall/Handout via Xinhua)
MADRID -- Spanish health authorities on Tuesday confirmed slight increases in the numbers of new COVID-19 deaths and coronavirus cases in the country.
Eighty-three people lost their lives to COVID-19 on Monday, 24 more than a day earlier, taking the total number of confirmed deaths in Spain to 27,778.
It was the third consecutive day the death toll had been below 100. Although the regions of Catalonia and Madrid accounted for 51 of the 83 fatalities, five regions (Valencia, Andalusia, Murcia, Galicia and Navarra) reported no deaths at all.■
