PARIS, May 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death toll from the coronavirus pandemic in Europe passed 140,000 on Friday.
Europe is the hardest-hit continent with 1,495,293 confirmed cases and a total of 140,096 deaths — out of 234,987 worldwide.
The European countries with the highest death tolls are Italy with 28,236, followed by Britain on 27,510, Spain 24,284 and France 24,594.
France reported 218 coronavirus deaths on Friday, the smallest number in a 24-hour period in more than five weeks.
Meanwhile 141 fewer people were being treated Friday in intensive care units, top health official Jerome Salomon said.
The number of ICU patients peaked at 7,200 on April 9.
The last time the country recorded such a low daily number of fatalities was March 23, when there were 186 registered deaths.
The government has announced the country’s strict lockdown will be eased from May 11, but the pace will be slower in harder hit areas such as the greater Paris area and the northeast quarter of the country. — NNN-AGENCIES
