US and  Italy both lose…

US and  Italy both lose 20,000 lives to Coronavirus.

SOME RELIEF FOR SPAIN: One of the worst-hit countries  in this pandemic so far, Spain has started to ease tough lockdown restrictions on Monday

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A deserted Piazza di Trevi and the Trevi fountain in central Rome, during the lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19.

The drop in patients in intensive care from a peak of 4,068 on April 3 to 3,260 on Monday confirmed a general improvement in Italy’s Covid-19 trends.

The rise in new infections dropped to a new low of just 2%. But a top Italian infectious diseases expert said data were hard to read because new cases showing up now could have occurred up to three weeks ago, given the incubation period.

The Mediterranean country last week extended its national lockdown until May 3.

In contrast, Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the epidemic, on Monday started to ease tough lockdown restrictions that have kept people confined to their homes for more than a month and put a brake on economic activity.

Spain’s cumulative death toll from the coronavirus rose to 17,489 on Monday, up 517 from 16,972 on Sunday, the health ministry said. Confirmed cases totalled 169,496, up from 166,019 the previous day.

However, in a sign that the situation was taking a turn for the better, some businesses, including construction and manufacturing, were allowed to reopen.

But most of the population are still confined to their homes, and shops, bars and public spaces will remain closed until April 26.

People at main transport hubs were handed face masks as they went to work on Monday morning. “The health of workers must be guaranteed. If this is minimally affected, the activity cannot restart,” interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Cadena Ser radio station.

The lockdown has helped slow a spiralling death rate that reached its peak in early.