More than 50 million infected with Covid-19 in Europe since Dec 2019, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

More than 50 million infected with Covid-19 in Europe since Dec 2019

This article is more than 12 months old

PARIS: More than 50 million people have been infected in Europe by the coronavirus since it emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally of official data on Wednesday.

A total of 50,021,615 cases have been recorded in 52 countries and territories that extend as far as Azerbaijan and Russia, of which 1,382,000 cases were recorded in the past seven days. That represents an average of 197,400 cases a day.

Many European countries have reported a lower number of daily cases in the past two weeks, and governments are gradually lifting measures taken to stem the spread of Covid-19.

Britain allowed non-essential businesses and outdoor cafes to reopen on April 12, for example, and now reports an average of 2,300 new cases a day.

Italy has also approved a partial reopening of eateries and cinemas.

On the other hand, Cyprus has recorded 651 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the past week, the highest rate worldwide. The Mediterranean island declared a new two-week lockdown last Friday.

Europe accounts for roughly one-third of all Covid-19 cases, but it reported just 24 per cent of all new cases in the past week.

More than 1,060,900 people have died in Europe since the epidemic began, but the current figure of around 3,600 a day represents a slight decline from earlier this month. - AFP

WORLD