Italy's Death Toll Rises To 10,000 In A Europe Divided By Virus
Source: Bloomberg News
Italy’s coronavirus death toll topped 10,000 and Spain reported its deadliest day yet, leaving leaders of both countries groping for ways to tackle the crisis with Europe split along economic fault lines. While the data suggest the pace of infections may be leveling off, the human carnage and economic damage aren’t letting up. Spain recorded 832 deaths on Saturday, though Italy’s fatal cases slowed to 889 from a Friday record of 969.
With the goal of “flattening the curve” hanging in the balance, Italy’s Giuseppe Conte and Spain’s Pedro Sanchez took to the national airwaves with comments that raised the level of unease. Conte stopped short of an expected extension of Italy’s nationwide lockdown, a step that seems unavoidable given the suffering.
Sanchez muddied the waters by saying non-essential workers would be kept home over the Easter period, sowing doubt on what kind of lockdown Spain has been in for two weeks. Instead, both leaders amped up their criticism of the European Union for being slow and failing its hardest-hit members in the hour of their greatest economic need. Both were at pains to remind the EU of its responsibilities.
“Look, we have an appointment with history and everyone must rise to the occasion,” Conte said at a news conference. His proposal to the EU, specifically for the issuance of so-called corona bonds, was met with German and Dutch opposition. In an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore, he openly questioned the “raison d’etre” of the bloc if it cannot handle this crisis appropriately...
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-28/spain-reports-832-coronavirus-deaths-in-deadliest-day-yet
Sanchez repeated his call for a European “Marshall Plan,” a reference to the U.S. aid program credited with pulling post -WWII Western Europe out of economic devastation.
A health worker pushes a coronavirus patient in a wheelchair into an ambulance headed for a hospital in Madrid, Spain.
Coffins lined in a church in the Lombardy region of Italy in late March.
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