US death toll closes in on Italy’s as Europe guards against Easter travel
The US death toll from coronavirus briefly overtook Italy’s for the highest in the world on Saturday, according to a running tally kept by Johns Hopkins University.
The US eclipsed Italy in reporting more than 18,850 dead at around noon, but a short time later Italy reported a total of nearly 19,500.
However deaths have been declining in recent days in Italy while rising rapidly in the US, as Chicago and other cities across the Mid West braced for a potential surge in victims.
About half the deaths in the US were in the New York metropolitan area, where hospital admissions were nevertheless slowing down and other indicators suggested social distancing was “flattening the curve” of infections.
But with authorities warning that the crisis in New York is far from over, the city announced its 1.1 million-pupil school system will remain closed for the rest of the academic year.
Meanwhile, European countries used roadblocks, drones, helicopters, mounted patrols and the threat of fines to keep people from travelling over the Easter weekend, as glorious weather posed an extra test of public discipline.
He was speaking as Italy topped 19,000 deaths and 150,000 cases on Saturday, even as the country continued to see a slight decrease in numbers of people admitted to hospital and in intensive care.
Italian authorities set up roadblocks on main thoroughfares and along highway exits to discourage people from going on trips, and France deployed 160,000 police, including officers on horseback who patrolled beaches and parks.
The pandemic’s centre of gravity has long since shifted from China to Europe and the US, which now has by far the largest number of confirmed cases, with more than half a million.
But with infections levelling off in Italy, Spain and other places on the continent, governments took tentative steps towards loosening the weeks-long shutdowns of much of public life.
Some countries are planning small first steps out of the lockdown, even as public health authorities warned the virus could come back with a vengeance if people are not careful enough.
Spanish authorities said they will distribute 10 million face masks at major train and subway stations in a bid to prevent a jump in infections.
Italy continued to include all non-essential manufacturing in an extension of its national lockdown until May 3, but premier Giuseppe Conte held out hope that some industry could reopen earlier if conditions permit.
Mr Arcuri said the exit from the lockdown will include increased virus testing, the deployment of a voluntary contact-tracing app and mandatory blood tests as Italy seeks to set up a system of “immunity passports”.
India extended its lockdown of the nation of 1.3 billion people by two more weeks, but Iran reopened government offices and businesses outside the capital after a brief nationwide lockdown to help contain the worst outbreak in the Middle East. Businesses in Tehran will be allowed to reopen next weekend.
Globally, confirmed infections rose above 1.7 million, with more than 100,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Close to 400,000 people have recovered.
