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Stuart Lau

Italy’s number of new Covid-19 cases dropped to a five-day low on Monday, easing tension on overstretched hospitals and bringing a glimmer of hope to a nation that has lost more lives than any other country to the pandemic.
In Spain, however, more people died in the last 24 hours than at any point since the coronavirus outbreak erupted in what has become Europe’s second most devastated country.
Italian health authorities announced 4,789 new cases in the last 24 hours, a drop from 5,560 on Sunday and 6,557 on Saturday.
It was also lower than the levels of Thursday and Friday, when the figures for confirmed cases were still rising.


The number of hospitalised cases in Lombardy – the Italian region enduring the most serious outbreak – also declined for the first time since the contagion took root.
“Today is perhaps the first positive day we have had in this hard, very tough month,” said Giulio Gallera, the top health official in Lombardy, an area known as the economic engine of Italy.
“It is not the time to sing victory, but we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The number of coronavirus cases in Italy has risen to 63,927 – compared to 81,093 in mainland China.
In total, 6,077 people have died in Italy due to Covid-19 – which leads all countries – including 601 who died in the last 24 hours, a decline from the weekend.
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The overall death rate from the pandemic in Italy has further risen to 9.5 per cent, far exceeding the global average of 4.4 per cent.
Of the confirmed cases, 3,204 were in intensive care, while 26,522 were under home quarantine.


As Italians watched the news with cautious optimism, Spaniards fear they remain on Italy’s previous upwards trajectory.
Spanish authorities announced 462 deaths in the last 24 hours, the country’s worst day since the start of the epidemic.
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A high-level health official in Spain suggested that the latest increase rate of daily new cases – at 14 per cent – could be the peak of the crisis, but he was far from certain.
“The increase reported every day is progressively softened. But we are still not sure whether we have reached the peak of the epidemic,” said Fernando Simon, emergency coordinator of the Ministry of Health.
In a worrying development, more than one in 10 of Spain’s total confirmed coronavirus cases were nearly 4,000 health workers.

Spain’s deputy prime minister, Carmen Calvo, was hospitalised with respiratory infection on Sunday, the government said; she was awaiting coronavirus test results.
Two other ministers and the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have tested positive for the coronavirus in the past weeks.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been tested negative but will undergo further tests, her spokesman said on Monday. Merkel has been working from home, under quarantine, since Sunday because she had met a doctor who was tested positive for coronavirus.


In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the country had been placed under a lockdown for at least three weeks to slow the spread of Covid-19, saying that “the way ahead is hard” and warning a national audience that “many lives will sadly be lost”.
Earlier on Monday, the government said that 54 more people had died in the previous 24 hours after testing positive for the coronavirus, raising the country’s pandemic death toll to 335.
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The number of confirmed cases rose to 6,650 on Monday, from 5,683 on Sunday.
Britain sent in the army to deliver protective equipment to hospitals and told people to stay at home and heed warnings over social distancing, or the government would institute more extreme measures to stop the coronavirus spread.

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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: Italy has a brief glimpse of hope as new cases drop to a five-day low

The Trevi Fountain in Rome, deserted Monday during Italy’s coronavirus lockdown. The death toll of 601 in the previous 24 hours was a decline from the weekend. Photo: EPA-EFE via ANSA

epa08314930 (FILE) - Spanish first deputy Prime Minister, Carmen Calvo speaks during an interview in Madrid, Spain, 06 March 2020 (reissued 23 March 2020). Calvo has been admitted in Ruber Hospital in Madrid with respiratory infection on 22 March 2020, reports state. She has been tested for coronavirus Covid-19; results are still unknown as of yet. EPA-EFE/Chema Moya

Italian politician and lawyer, Health Councilor for the Lombardy region, Giulio Gallera, wearing a FPP2 face mask, is pictured outside a sports center where an intensive care unit was set up, near the San Raffaele hospital in Milan, during the COVID-19 new coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP)

Coronavirus: UK outbreak ‘accelerating’ amid fears country on same path as Italy

People wear masks as they walk over Millennium Bridge near St Paul's Cathedral in London on Sunday. Photo: AP

The normally bustling Greenwich Market in south London is almost empty due to precautions against the coronavirus outbreak on Sunday March 22, 2020. For some people the COVID-19 coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, but for some it causes severe illness. (AP Photo/Tony Hicks)

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan leaves Downing Street, as the coronavirus outbreak continues, in London, Britain March 16, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

A sign warns of the closure of The London Eye attraction in London, Sunday, March 22, 2020. For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Coronavirus deaths gather pace in Europe as world struggles to contain pandemic

A woman wearing a mask and gloves walks past Red Cross offices in Oviedo in northern Spain. Photo: Reuters

Coronavirus: ‘empty streets’ as Spain braces for nationwide lockdown

The usually bustling Gran Via in Madrid is deserted on Sunday, a day after the Spanish government announced a lockdown. Photo: EPA-EFE

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‘Today is perhaps the first positive day we have had in this hard, very tough month,’ says a top health official, when just 4,789 new cases are confirmed
But Spain’s death toll hits a new daily high of 462, and a deputy prime minister is hospitalised



‘Today is perhaps the first positive day we have had in this hard, very tough month,’ says a top health official, when just 4,789 new cases are confirmed. But Spain’s death toll hits a new daily high of 462, and a deputy prime minister is hospitalised.


Coronavirus: Italy has a brief glimpse of hope as new cases drop to a five-day low

‘Today is perhaps the first positive day we have had in this hard, very tough month,’ says a top health official, when just 4,789 new cases are confirmed But Spain’s death toll hits a new daily high of 462, and a deputy prime minister is hospitalised

‘Today is perhaps the first positive day we have had in this hard, very tough month,’ says a top health official, when just 4,789 new cases are confirmed

But Spain’s death toll hits a new daily high of 462, and a deputy prime minister is hospitalised