The coronavirus death toll in Europe has now surged past 100,000 victims.
8201 Min Read
The coronavirus death toll in Europe surged past 100,000 on Saturday.
Accounting for 100,510 deaths — nearly two-thirds of the 157,163 global fatalities, according to a tally by the AFP news agency. Europe has suffered a greater death toll than any other continent.
Nearly a quarter of worldwide fatalities have been reported in the United States, where some 38,000 people have died, according to the John Hopkins Institute.
Over 4.5 billion people — more than half of humanity — remain at home as part of voluntary or enforced efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus through social distancing. Japan, Mexico, Spain, France, and the UK are among the countries that have expanded such measures or extended the length of their national lockdowns.
The United States has the highest caseload of any country and by Saturday had lost some 38,000 people to the virus, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.
Stay at home orders have been enforced in Italy and Spain, still the hardest-hit countries in Europe, with 23,227 and 20,043 fatalities respectively, followed by France with 19,323 deaths. Britain’s overall death toll is officially 15,464.
As governments around the world grapple with when and how to ease lockdowns that have crippled the global economy, Spain on Saturday extended its nationwide lockdown to May 9.
Japan, Britain and Mexico have all expanded their movement restrictions.
Yet elsewhere, signs that the outbreak could be easing prompted Switzerland, Denmark and Finland to begin reopening shops and schools.
