Thu 11 June 2020:
Since first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions.
Across the Atlantic, the European Union said it hoped to reopen its external borders to foreigners in July, as leaders look to loosen the economic stranglehold of virus lockdowns that are triggering a steep global downturn.
Meanwhile the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in a grim warning that the world economy is on course to contract by at least six percent this year due to virus shutdowns.
By the end of next year, the loss of income should surpass that of “any previous recession over the last 100 years outside wartime”, the forecast warned.
EU member states have the final say on border measures. But Brussels is suggesting a “gradual and partial” reopening of external frontiers to travellers outside the bloc from July 1, diplomatic chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday.
Greece, whose economy depends heavily on tourism, has already announced it will reopen its skies from June 15 to a list of countries including non-EU states such as Australia, China and South Korea.
Austria and Germany also announced they were easing travel restrictions, though Germany extended a warning against travel outside the EU until August 31.
In Spain, where more than 27,000 people have died from COVID-19, La Liga soccer championships are set to resume on Thursday for the first time in three months.
Meanwhile in Britain, which has the highest death toll in Europe, Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended what he described as the country’s “astonishing” efforts to tackle the virus.
But one top scientist there said the number of fatalities could have been halved had lockdown measures been introduced a week sooner.
Italian prosecutors said they wanted to question Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the health and interior ministers over how the government handled the pandemic.
The pandemic has killed more than 416,000 people worldwide, with over 7.36 million confirmed cases and more than 3.4 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University of the US.
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