UK reports lowest daily deaths, France 'turns page of first act of crisis'

BRUSSELS - The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

LONDON -- Britain has reported 36 new deaths from COVID-19 as of Saturday afternoon -- the lowest number of daily fatalities since lockdown began, the Department of Health and Social Care said Sunday.

As of Saturday afternoon, of those who tested positive for novel coronavirus in Britain, 41,698 have died.

The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.

As of Sunday morning, 295,889 people in Britain have tested positive for the disease, a daily increase of 1,514, said the department.

PARIS -- Starting from Monday it would be possible for France to "turn the page on the first act of the crisis" that had forced France into nearly two months of anti-coronavirus lockdown followed by a gradual and cautious deconfinement, President Emmanuel Macron declared on Sunday.

With the exception of Mayotte and French Guiana, the entire map of France will go green, including Ile-de-France, the great Paris region, said Macron in a televised address to the nation, a fourth one since the outbreak of the epidemic.

"This means a stronger resumption of work and the reopening of restaurants and bars," he said.

ROME -- Italy's four-month-old coronavirus situation continued to trend in the right direction, data from the Civil Protection Department showed Sunday, as political leaders are shifting their attention toward assuring safety and economic growth during the post-coronavirus period.

Over the previous 24 hours, Italy recorded 44 deaths from COVID-19, the lowest one-day fatalities since March 7.

There were 338 new cases of the disease recorded over the last day, down from 346 a day earlier but higher than 163 on Friday. Health officials said that day-to-day fluctuations are less important than the overall trend, which has been positive. The total of new cases has now been below 500 for 15 of the last 16 days, including Sunday, a level reached only three times over the 86 days before that.

MADRID -- The number of deaths from COVID-19 in Spain has been unchanged for a week now, at 27,136, according to the data published by the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare on Sunday.

But the ministry also noted that there have been 26 deaths "in the past seven days," and that "a validation of the number of deaths is being carried out to allow us to correct the numbers, which will be updated weekly."

The Health Ministry also reported 48 new cases of COVID-19, drastically lower from the 130 reported 24 hours earlier, taking the tally to 243,928.