A woman walks past the Royal Albert Hall in London, Britain, on July 7, 2020. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)
-- UK COVID-19 deaths rise to 44,517;
-- Romania's COVID-19 cases top 30,000;
-- France prepares for new coronavirus outbreak with targeted lockdown;
-- Germany's Merkel calls for EU unity on coronavirus recovery.
BRUSSELS, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.
LONDON -- Another 126 COVID-19 patients have died in Britain as of Tuesday afternoon, bringing the total coronavirus-related death toll in the country to 44,517, the British Department of Health and Social Care said Wednesday.
The figures include deaths in all settings, including hospitals, care homes and the wider community.
As of Wednesday morning, 286,979 people have tested positive for the disease in Britain, a daily increase of 630, according to the department.
People have lunch at a restaurant near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, June 18, 2020. (Xinhua/Gao Jing)
PARIS -- France was preparing for eventual resurgence of coronavirus epidemic and targeted lockdown would be imposed to preserve economic and social activities, Prime Minister Jean Castex said Wednesday.
"The virus is still here," Castex told local broadcaster BFMTV. "It was time to prepare for a second wave of the epidemic… It is the role of the State to prepare, to anticipate."
"But we would not proceed to a general lockdown like in March, as that has terrible economic and human consequences. Any new lockdown would be targeted," he added.
A medical worker talks with a man to be tested for COVID-19 antibodies at a test center in the National Arena soccer stadium in Bucharest, Romania, June 10, 2020. (Photo by Cristian Cristel/Xinhua)
BUCHAREST -- Romania recorded an all-time daily high of 555 COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, while the total number of confirmed cases reached 30,175, showed the latest official figures released Wednesday.
The previous daily record was 523 new cases on April 11. The number of daily confirmed cases in Romania has exceeded the 500 mark only twice since Feb. 26 when the first infection was confirmed.
Eighteen people, all with comorbidities, have died of COVID-19 in the country in the last 24 hours, raising the total to 1,817, announced the Strategic Communication Group (GCS), the official novel coronavirus communication task force.
Women wearing face masks walk in a shopping mall in Frankfurt, Germany, on July 7, 2020. (Xinhua/Lu Yang)
BRUSSELS -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday called on the European Union (EU) member states to overcome divisions and approve the recovery package to help the bloc emerge from the coronavirus-triggered crisis.
"The top priority of the German Presidency is for Europe to come out of the crisis united and stronger," Merkel said in a speech at the European Parliament here. It was her first trip abroad since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Germany took over the rotating six-month EU Council Presidency on July 1.■