Virus death in Europe nears 5,000 as Italy overtakes China

Spain says its death toll from the coronavirus epidemic soared Friday to 1,002 from 767 on the previous day, while Italy overtook China for the highest death toll yet. 

Spain's health emergencies chief Fernando Simon said the number of registered cases in the country rose to 19,980 on Friday from 17,147 on Thursday.

Madrid remains the worst-hit area, accounting for 7,165 cases, or 36 percent of the total infections in Spain, while the number of deaths in the capital rose to 628 -- around 63 percent of the national total.

Belgium recorded 16 new deaths because of the coronavirus, for a total of 37 in the country, the biggest daily rise since the beginning of the epidemic, a spokesman for the Belgian health ministry said.

The country added 462 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of infected in the country to 2257. 

Swiss health authorities said the number of coronavirus cases in Switzerland and Liechtenstein has risen by 952 within a day to 4,840 people, with 43 people reported to have died from the disease.

Meanwhile, Germany's biggest state of Bavaria became the country's first to order a lockdown. 

President Emmanuel Macron said France is only at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis and is in a race to curb its progress.

"We are at the start of this crisis. We have taken exceptional measures to absorb this first wave, but we've started a race against the virus," Macron said at the start of a crisis meeting at the interior ministry. 

Italy said its death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has undergone a surge in the last 24 hours, overtaking that of China despite strict measures Rome has imposed on its citizens to curb the pandemic.

Health officials confirmed 427 new deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday, which brought the total toll to 3,405 nationwide.

The total number of cases in Italy, the hardest-hit nation in Europe, also rose to 41,035, from a previous 35,713, up 14.9 percent, according to the Civil Protection Agency.

This is while, China where the unknown form of pneumonia first emerged in December, has recorded 3,245 deaths from the virus.

According to an AFP tally based on official data at 1030 GMT Friday, the number of people who have died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic now exceeds 10,000.

In total, 10,080 deaths have been reported, most of them in Europe (4,932) and Asia (3,431). 

China has now effectively brought the epidemic under control, recording zero local transmissions of COVID-19 on Friday for the second day in a row.  

The latest figure in Italy, which indicated a faster rate of growth than seen over the last three days across the nation, prompted Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to extend lockdown measures beyond their original deadlines on Thursday.

"The measures we have taken... must be extended beyond their original deadline," Conte said.

He imposed national shutdowns on most businesses and a ban on public gatherings on March 12. They are due to expire on March 25.

But school closures and other measures, such as a ban on fan attendance at sporting events, are due to run on until April 3.

MG