ROME • Italy has logged a shocking spike in its already staggering coronavirus death toll, with officials warning that the peak of the crisis was still days away, as the global infection rate surges relentlessly upwards.
With more than 300,000 people infected in Europe alone, the disease shows few signs of slowing, and has already cast the world into a recession, economists say.
Italy recorded almost 1,000 deaths from the virus last Friday - the worst one-day toll anywhere since the pandemic began.
One coronavirus sufferer, a cardiologist from Rome who has since recovered, recalled his hellish experience at a hospital in the capital.
"The treatment for the oxygen therapy is painful, looking for the radial artery is difficult. Desperate other patients were crying out, 'enough, enough'," he told the Agence France-Presse.
In one bright spot, infection rates in Italy continued their recent downward trend. But the head of the national health institute Silvio Brusaferro said the country was not out of the woods yet, predicting "we could peak in the next few days".
Spain too said its rate of new infections appeared to be slowing - despite also reporting yesterday 832 deaths in the last 24 hours, its deadliest day since the outbreak began.
That brings the total to 5,690, with the number of confirmed cases jumping to 72,248.
Europe has suffered the brunt of the coronavirus crisis in recent weeks, with millions across the continent on lockdown and the streets of Paris, Rome and Madrid eerily empty.
In Britain, the two men leading the country's fight against the coronavirus - Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Health Secretary Matt Hancock - both announced last Friday they had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus.
As of last Friday, 1,019 people in Britain had died after testing positive, a rise of 260 on the total 24 hours earlier. The number of confirmed cases was 17,089.
France, which had over 32,000 cases and almost 2,000 deaths as of yesterday, saw its public confinement extended to April 15.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday thanked her people for largely complying with rules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, as confirmed cases in the country continued to rise and her chief of staff said the shutdown would not be eased before April 20.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Germany has risen to 48,582 - an increase of 6,294 on the previous day - and 325 people have died of the disease, statistics from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed yesterday.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte warned yesterday that the European Union could lose its purpose if it fails to come up with a strong response to the coronavirus threat.
Mr Conte aired his grievances after the 27 EU leaders could not agree on an action plan during an argumentative six-hour video conference last Thursday and gave their finance ministers two more weeks to forge a policy that could please Italy and Spain. The two countries hardest hit by the pandemic blocked last Thursday's statement because it did not go far enough.
The crux of the argument is about the extent to which the EU - facing what Italy views as an existential threat - should abandon its policy of keeping within tight budget constraints. The bloc has already untied its purse strings in ways not seen since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
Mr Conte argues that this is not enough. Rome and Madrid want the EU to start issuing "corona bonds" - a form of common debt that governments sell on markets to raise money and address individual economic needs.
Germany and the Netherlands are baulking at the idea of joint debt.
"If Europe does not rise to this unprecedented challenge, the whole European structure loses its raison d'etre (reason for existing) to the people," Mr Conte told yesterday's edition of the Il Sole 24 Ore financial newspaper.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG
