People sit on steps of the National Gallery in London, Britain, on May 17, 2020. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)
-- UK COVID-19 deaths hit 37,837 as another 377 patients die;
-- Italy records over 150,000 COVID-19 recoveries, death toll at 33,142;
-- Madrid's famed museums to reopen in early June;
-- Netherlands bans transport of minks due to COVID-19 threat.
BRUSSELS, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.
LONDON -- Another 377 COVID-19 patients had died in Britain as of Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 37,837, the Department of Health and Social Care said Thursday.
The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.
As of Thursday morning, 269,127 people had tested positive in Britain, a daily increase of 1,887, according to the department.
People visit the Colonna Palace with face masks in Rome, Italy, May 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Cheng Tingting)
ROME -- The novel coronavirus infection trend continued downward in Italy as the number of recoveries jumped by 3,503 on Thursday, bringing the total to 150,604, the Civil Protection Department said.
Meanwhile, another 70 people died, bringing the death toll since the pandemic began in late February to 33,142 on Thursday, up from 33,072 on Wednesday.
The total active infections stood at 47,986 -- down by 2,980 cases from Wednesday's total of 50,966 infections, according to the department.
A salesman works at a food stall in the Sants market in Barcelona, Spain, May 8, 2020. (Barcelona City Hall/Handout via Xinhua)
MADRID -- Madrid's famed museums -- the Prado, the Reina Sofia and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, which were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March -- will reopen their doors to the public on June 6, the Ministry of Culture and Sports said Thursday in a statement.
The re-opening would go ahead "if the sanitary conditions permit," the statement said.
The ministry said that "each museum has designed a specific plan to manage its reopening," although they will all share several features to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The empty Leidse Square is seen in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, April 23, 2020. (Photo by Sylvia Lederer/Xinhua)
THE HAGUE -- The Dutch government has forbidden the transportation of mink and their manure out of fear of novel coronavirus infections, the Dutch Ministries of Health, Welfare and Sport and Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality wrote in a letter to the country's parliament on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Dutch authorities said that a mink had likely passed COVID-19 to a human after investigation already showed a first mink-human infection in the previous week. The suspected mink-to-human transmissions occurred at two different mink farms in the province of North Brabant.
In addition to the transportation ban, the ministries also banned visits to mink stables and introduced a stricter hygiene protocol for visitors to mink farms. The measures apply to all mink companies in the Netherlands and not only to companies where infections have been detected. Mink farmers must also ensure that dogs, cats and ferrets do not enter or leave the company premises.■
