COVID-19 death toll in Europe hits 130,000; over 1.4M infected with the novel coronavirus

As the deadly coronavirus continues to disrupt lives around the world, on April 29 the COVID-19 death toll in Europe surpassed the 130,000 mark as per international media reports. The continent has been hard-hit by the pandemic as nearly 1,433,453 people have been infected by the virus. With a total of approximately 130,002 deaths, three-quarters of them were in Italy, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. 

While the number of COVID-19 cases is increasing in the continent, several countries, including Italy, are planning to lift lockdown restrictions over the next few weeks in an attempt to return to normalcy. According to the Worldometer website, Italy alone registered over 27,000 fatalities of the total death toll, while Spain registered 24,275 deaths, followed by France and UK with 23,660 and 26,097 deaths from the disease. 

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European nations to remain cautious

However, a leading public health expert has reportedly claimed that Britain likely has the highest coronavirus death rate in Europe and not Italy due to what he described as “system errors,” while the government defended the deaths record in response to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Wolrd Health Organisation (WHO) said that Europe remains in the “eye of the storm” even as the worst-hit countries show some positive results vis-a-vis the number of COVID-19 cases.

WHO Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said a news conference that the positive signals in some countries are tempered by “sustained or increased levels” of incidence in other countries. WHO recently even urged European nations to lift lockdown restrictions with caution since there are chances cases may multiply once again. 

COVID-19 Crisis

Novel coronavirus COVID-19, which originated in China in December 2019, has now claimed over 225,000 lives worldwide as of April 29. According to the tally by an international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 210 countries and territories and has infected more than 3.1 million people.

Out of the total infections, more than 900,000 have recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries and the global economy is struggling. 

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