Slovenia and Baltic States out of lockdown
coronavirus
15 May 2020
/ 18:20
The global coronavirus death toll has passed 300,000, with cases nearing 4.5 million. The U.S. accounts for more than a quarter of all fatalities!
- Slovenia's government has called an official end to its coronavirus epidemic, becoming the first European country to do so, after authorities confirmed fewer than seven new cases each day for the past two weeks. -
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have opened their borders to each other on Friday, creating the first "travel bubble" within the European Union in a bid to jump-start economies broken down by the pandemic. The Baltic states have invited both Poland and Finland to join a full "travel union."
- Germany's economy contracted by 2.2 percent in the first quarter of the year – the largest decrease since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis – pushing the country into recession.
- Any vaccine to fight the virus will not be ready for use for at least two years, the CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis told a German newspaper.
- Italy is to start testing a representative sample of 150,000 people in 2,000 cities next week to understand the extent of the national spread of the virus, the head of the government's scientific committee told parliament on Thursday.
- German airline group Lufthansa plans to resume about 1,800 weekly flights to 130 destinations including Los Angeles, Toronto and Mumbai by the end of June.
- The UK has given the go-ahead for U.S.-based Abbott Laboratories to produce an antibody test, shortly after it gave the same approval to Swiss drugmaker Roche, health officials said on Friday, as it hopes to speed up the reopening of its economy.
- More than a quarter of all care home deaths in England and Wales since the beginning of the outbreak involved COVID-19, new Office for National Statistics figures have shown. Figures have also revealed that more than a third of care homes in England have now recorded a coronavirus outbreak.
- Health ministers from South Korea, China and Japan are set to hold a video conference on Friday to discuss ways to work together in the global campaign against the virus.
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have opened their borders to each other on Friday, creating the first "travel bubble" within the European Union in a bid to jump-start economies broken down by the pandemic. The Baltic states have invited both Poland and Finland to join a full "travel union."
- Germany's economy contracted by 2.2 percent in the first quarter of the year – the largest decrease since the 2008 Global Financial Crisis – pushing the country into recession.
- Any vaccine to fight the virus will not be ready for use for at least two years, the CEO of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis told a German newspaper.
- Italy is to start testing a representative sample of 150,000 people in 2,000 cities next week to understand the extent of the national spread of the virus, the head of the government's scientific committee told parliament on Thursday.
- German airline group Lufthansa plans to resume about 1,800 weekly flights to 130 destinations including Los Angeles, Toronto and Mumbai by the end of June.
- The UK has given the go-ahead for U.S.-based Abbott Laboratories to produce an antibody test, shortly after it gave the same approval to Swiss drugmaker Roche, health officials said on Friday, as it hopes to speed up the reopening of its economy.
- More than a quarter of all care home deaths in England and Wales since the beginning of the outbreak involved COVID-19, new Office for National Statistics figures have shown. Figures have also revealed that more than a third of care homes in England have now recorded a coronavirus outbreak.
- Health ministers from South Korea, China and Japan are set to hold a video conference on Friday to discuss ways to work together in the global campaign against the virus.
