Health chief says nation nears plateau in infections, but deaths spike in region

The head of a top health agency in Italy said on Tuesday that the country is nearing a plateau in its coronavirus infection rate and should start to see a decline in new cases.

The tinge of optimism came as several other European countries have seen spikes in their COVID-19 death tolls.

Europe reported 386,282 cases of infection and 26,110 deaths as of Tuesday, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Italy remains the worst hit country. On Tuesday, Italians observed a minute's silence for the victims of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The number of infections climbed to 105,792, including 12,428 fatalities, as of Tuesday.

National Institute of Health President Silvio Brusaferro said at a news conference on Tuesday that the upward curve in the rate of the virus' spread seems to be leveling off.

"It appears we are reaching a kind of plateau, which means our (isolation and containment) measures are working," Brusaferro said in reference to a national lockdown and strict quarantine measures.

"Reaching the plateau does not mean we've conquered the peak and the fight is over, but that we must begin the descent. And the descent can begin if we continue paying maximum attention to how we behave and what we do on a daily basis."

Even as Italian officials see a glimmer of hope, the United Kingdom suffered its deadliest 24 hours yet in the outbreak. Figures released on Tuesday revealed that 393 people had died in the period, taking the total loss of life to 1,808.

Speaking at the daily Downing Street media briefing, Stephen Powis, the national medical director for National Health Service England, said social distancing and reduced public transport use were having a positive effect but the country is "not out of the woods" yet.

Senior cabinet minister Michael Gove added that thousands of ventilators would be "rolling off the production lines" this weekend and be distributed to the neediest places.

As British National Health Service staff continue to battle with the outbreak, Home Secretary Priti Patel said that all overseas NHS workers whose visas are due to expire before Oct 1 will be given an automatic 12-month extension to enable them to "focus fully on combating coronavirus and saving lives". The measure affects around 2,800 staff and their families.

In France, the cumulative number of infections reached 52,128 by Tuesday, with the death tally at 3,523. Over the 24 hours reported on, the virus claimed 499 lives and forced 458 patients into intensive care units.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday a consortium of four French industrial groups announced that it will produce 10,000 ventilators by mid-May to support French hospitals in their fight against the virus.

In Germany, confirmed cases on Tuesday increased by 4,615 in a single day to 61,913, while the number of deaths rose to 583, from 455 a day earlier, according to the Robert Koch Institute. Institute President Lothar Wieler warned that the "mortality rate will increase".

Wearing masks

The city of Jena in eastern Germany has decided to make people wear face masks when shopping or traveling on public transport, becoming the first city in the country to introduce the measure. Jena has 119 coronavirus infections and an overall population of about 110,000.

"In a week's time, wearing mouth and nose protection in shops in Jena, on public transport and buildings with public traffic will be compulsory," Jena City Hall said.

In Russia, the chief physician of the Kommunarka clinic for coronavirus patients in Moscow, Denis Protsenko, who recently met President Vladimir Putin, has been diagnosed with the virus, the Rossiya-24 news channel reported on Tuesday. Last week, the president visited the medical facility accompanied by Protsenko and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement that Putin is being tested for the coronavirus "on a regular basis", and "everything is okay".

Chen Yingqun in Beijing, Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.