Spain reports 6,600 new cases, over 500 dead
Biejing: Two months after Chinese authorities locked down the city at the center of the outbreak, the end is in sight. Hubei province said that travel restrictions on the capital city of Wuhan will be removed starting April 8, which would end a lockdown that began on Jan. 23. New confirmed virus cases in China have dwindled in the last several days, with nearly all now attributed to travelers returning from overseas.
Italy’s death toll rose by 602, the smallest increase in four days, according to Reuters. The number of new confirmed cases also slowed. These figures have raised expectations that the worse could be over for the country with the highest number of deaths from the virus worldwide. However, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy had not yet reached the “most acute phase” of the infection.
Conte stepped up the national lockdown measures over the weekend, ordering the closure of all industrial production and almost all private and public offices. However, metalworkers and bank unions vowed to strike this week. They are demanding more stringent measures for the factories that are still open and for bank employees, who they say do not have enough masks, gloves or disinfectant.
The number of new cases in Spain jumped Tuesday to 39,673 from 33,089 cases registered on Monday, the health ministry reported. The number of fatalities rose to 2,696 overnight from 2,182, the ministry said.