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No COVID-19 deaths in Spain for first time in three months

Spain has reported no coronvirus deaths overnight for the first time since March, as lockdowns begin to ease across much of Europe.

Jun 02, 2020, updated Jun 02, 2020
A reopened restaurant in Barcelona. Photo: Paco Freire / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

A reopened restaurant in Barcelona. Photo: Paco Freire / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

Spains’s emergency health response chief Fernando Simon said there were no deaths and only 71 new infection over the past 24 hours.

“We are in a very good place in the evolution of the pandemic,” he said.

“The statistics are following a trend. They are going the right direction.”

Spain reported its first two deaths on March 3, with another reported two days later, before infections and deaths jumped exponentially.

On April 2, it recorded 950 deaths in 24 hours – the peak death toll.

The official death toll now stands at 27,127, with 240,000 confirmed cases.

Spain in recent weeks has gradually been relaxing its strict lockdown as the outbreak ebbs.

In Italy, COVID-19 deaths climbed by 60 against 75 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency says, while the daily tally of new cases fell to just 178 from 355 on the prior day.

The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on February 21 now stands at 33,475, the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain.

The number of confirmed cases amounts to 233,197, the sixth highest global tally behind those of the United States, Russia, Brazil, Spain and Britain.

People registered as currently carrying the illness fell to 41,367 from 42,075 the day before.

There were 424 people in intensive care on Monday, down from 435 on Sunday, maintaining a long-running decline.

Of those originally infected, 158,355 were declared recovered against 157,507 a day earlier.

The agency said 2.452 million people had been tested for the virus as of Monday, against 2.434 million on Sunday, out of a population of about 60 million.

Coronavirus restrictions were eased from Asia to Europe on the first day of June, with the Colosseum reopening in Rome, ferries restarting in Bangladesh, students returning in Britain and Dutch bars and restaurants free to welcome patrons.

Countries around the Mediterranean sea tentatively kicked off the northern summer season where tourists could bask in their famously sunny beaches while still being protected by social distancing measures from a virus that is marching relentlessly around the world.

Greece lifted lockdown measures on Monday for hotels, campsites, open-air cinemas, golf courses and public swimming pools while beaches and museums reopened in Turkey and bars, restaurants, cinemas and museums came back to life in the Netherlands.

“Today, we opened two rooms and tomorrow three. It’s like building an anthill,” Athens hotel owner Panos Betis said as employees wearing face masks tidied a rooftop restaurant and cleaned a window facing the ancient Acropolis.

“We can’t compare the season to last year. We were at 95 per cent capacity. Our aim now is to hang in there till 2021.”

A long line of masked visitors snaked outside the Vatican Museums, which include the Sistine Chapel, as they re-opened for the first time in three months.

The Vatican Museums’ famous keyholder – the “clavigero” who holds the keys to all the galleries on a big ring on his wrist – opened the gate in a sign both symbolic and literal that the museums were back in business.

Still, strict crowd control measures were in place at both landmarks: visitors needed reservations to visit, their temperatures were taken before entering and masks were mandatory.

The Dutch relaxation of coronavirus rules took place on a major holiday with the sun blazing, raising immediate fears of overcrowding in popular beach resorts.

The new rules let bars and restaurants serve up to 30 people inside if they keep distant from each other but there’s no standing at bars and reservations are necessary.

Britain, which with more than 38,500 dead has the world’s second-worst death toll behind the United States, eased restrictions despite warnings from health officials that the risk of spreading COVID-19 was still too great.

Some primary classes reopened in England and people could now have limited contact with family and friends, but only outdoors and by staying two metres apart.

Bangladesh restarted bus, train, ferry and flight services on Monday, hoping that a gradual reopening revives an economy in which millions have become jobless.

About 6.19 million infections have been reported worldwide, with more than 372,000 people dying, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The US has registered nearly 1.8 million infections and more than 104,000 deaths in the pandemic, which has disproportionately affected racial minorities in a country that does not have universal health care.

South Korea and India offered cautionary tales on Monday about just how hard it is to halt the virus.

South Korea reported a steady rise in cases around Seoul. Hundreds of infections have been linked to nightspots, restaurants and a massive e-commerce warehouse near Seoul. The resurgence is straining the country’s ability to test patients and trace their contacts.

In India, cases increased rapidly but it still eased restrictions on Monday on shops and public transport in more states. Subways and schools remain closed as experts said India is still far from reaching the peak of its outbreak.

China, where the global pandemic is believed to have originated late last year, reported 16 new cases on Monday, all travellers from abroad.

-with AAP

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