Germany's infections surpass 2m, France's death toll nears 70,000

The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries, reported Xinhua.

BERLIN

More than two million COVID-19 infections have already been officially registered in Germany since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Friday.

A total of 22,368 new cases were reported within one day, slightly below last week's level, according to RKI, the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.

Deaths related to COVID-19 were on a high level and increased by 1,113 within one day on Friday, bringing the toll in the country to 44,994, according to the RKI. On Thursday, Germany reported a new record of 1,244 COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours.

LONDON

Another 55,761 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,316,019, according to official figures released Friday.

Another 1,280 have died within 28 days of a positive test. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 87,295, the data showed.

The latest figures were revealed as a research by The Guardian newspaper showed Friday that two-thirds of all National Health Service (NHS) trusts across England were treating more coronavirus patients last week than they did at the peak of the first wave of the pandemic.

PARIS

France on Friday saw the coronavirus-related death toll approach 70,000, while the daily increase in COVID-19 infections was 21,271, slightly up from 21,228 registered the day before.

Since the start of the outbreak, a total of 69,949 French citizens have lost their lives because of the virus, including 21,359 in retirement homes.

In the past 24 hours, hospitals recorded 280 deaths, down from 282 a day earlier, and 356 other people died in retirement homes, whose COVID-19 figures are updated on Tuesdays and Fridays.

To date, a total of 2,872,941 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus in France. Of them, 25,043 were hospitalized, 2,740 in intensive care.

ROME

Italy passed a positive milestone on Friday, with 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine having been administered just 19 days after the country launched its nationwide vaccination program.

The key indicator represents a dramatic increase in the pace of distributing the vaccines: it took the country 13 days to give the first 500,000 shots and just 6 to give the next 500,000. According to estimates in the Italian media, the next 500,000 doses could be distributed by late Monday or early Tuesday.

The developments came as Italy's coronavirus infection rate starts to inch higher after a mild lull in December. On Friday, the country recorded more than 16,000 new COVID-19 infections and nearly 500 deaths from the virus.