1. EU-led donation campaign has already raised €7.4 billion for beating the COVID-19 disease 

According to the AFT on May 4, 2020, the EU-led donation campaign has raised about €7.4 billion for beating the COVID-19 disease. The donations came from around 40 countries, the UN, research institutes and philanthropic bodies. Pop singer Madonna vowed 1 million dollars. Of the 7.5 billion euros, four billion will go on vaccine development, two billion on the search for a treatment and 1.5 billion for producing tests, the EU said. The conference narrowly missed its target of 7.5 billion euros; UN chief Antonio Guterres told the conference that "But to reach everyone everywhere we likely need five times that amount." The United States was absent from the donation campaign. Trump -- fighting for reelection in November -- said on Sunday(May 3) the United States would have a coronavirus vaccine ready by the end of the year.

(Via Nouvelles d'Europe in Weibo)

2. Russia's ultra-low death rate raises questions, official response

As of 16:00 Paris time on May 7, a total of 177,160 cases had been confirmed in Russia, with a total of 1625 deaths. The mortality rate was only 0.9% and much lower than Germany's 4.2%. The ultra-low mortality rate raises some questions.

In response, Russia's public health authority Rospotrebnadzor explained that Russia's low mortality rate is due to the "rapid response" to the outbreak. The department said in a statement: "Russia is the second largest nucleic acid testing country, so far has carried out more than 4.46 million new coronavirus testing."

(Via Nouvelles d'Europe in Weibo)

3. Germany Doubts US Claim of Origin of COVID19 Virus 

Germany has cast doubt on U.S. claims that the coronavirus pandemic originated in a Chinese lab, media reported Friday (May 8).

An internal memo prepared for Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer "classifies the American claims as a calculated attempt to distract" from Washington’s own failings, Der Spiegel reported. President Trump is attempting "to distract from his own mistakes and direct Americans' anger at China," Spiegel cited from the document.

The spokesman for the German defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment so far. 

(Via Nouvelles d'Europe/ River 冰彬 in Weibo）

4. About 10% of College Students in France Lost Their Jobs Due to the COVID19 Outbreak

Frederic Vidal, France's Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, told Le Parisien newspaper on Friday that based on Crous data: "20% of students are in a unstable state, and 40% of students received state aid."

French Prime Minister Philippe has previously announced that in June the government will provide 200 euros in assistance to 800,000 young people under the age of 25, and about 400,000 "students who have lost their jobs or internships" and "students from other countries now in French mainland" will receive the grant.

(Via Nouvelles d'Europe/ River 冰彬 in Weibo）

5. "Takes 3 to 6 minutes to detect COVID19" Italy is about to introduce a saliva test kit

After the United States, Italy also has developed a prototype kit for the analysis of saliva to detect new coronavirus. This is the third test method in addition to nucleic acid testing (nasopharyngeal swabs) and serum testing. The research technique was recently developed by researchers at the University of Insubria (Università Degli Studi dell'Insubria) in Varese and the medical institution Asst dei Sette Laghi in Lombardy. 

According to Italy's report on May 6, the team thought of using the technology that is the basis of the pregnancy test, a highly selective immunochemical examination. It takes a few drops of saliva on a strip of paper and in a few minutes – from three to six based on the viscosity of the saliva – the result is obtained. One line: negative sample, virus absent. Two lines: positive sample.

(via oushitalia)

6. Romania: President Iohannis will not extend the State of Emergency after May 15

President Iohannis made statements to the media at 3 p.m. on May 4 and said that he would not extend the state of emergency after May 14. But given that the current outbreak is not fully under-controlled and over, Romania still has a state of emergency and from May 15. He went on to explain more: from May 15, Residents will no longer need to fill in personal travel statements when they travel locally, including going to work, going to the doctor and shopping; the ban on gatherings for more than 3 people remains; Personal care facilities will be opened and dental clinics and museums will reopen; All under special conditions of social distance and personal hygiene; Relaxation measures will not apply to quarantined areas, such as Suceava and surrounding towns. Johannes also said the second step of relaxation would likely be implemented around June 1.

7. Madrid Police Issued Thousands of Tickets in a Single Day

20 Minutos reported that on May 3, the Madrid police issued 1699 tickets for those who did not observe the rules under the alert state. This is the day with the most tickets since the beginning of alert state on April 8. At the same time, the police intercepted 69 vehicles and detained two people.

(via SpainZone ）

8. Lufthansa Plans to Gradually Resume Flights from June

Lufthansa expects to resume more flights from June. Lufthansa Group President Spohr made the announcement at the shareholders' meeting. Nevertheless, the market believes that air transport will not be fully restored to pre-epidemic levels until 2023, as a result of the new coronavirus outbreak that has engulfed the world.

9. Number of Germany new car registrations fell rapidly

According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), German car sales plunge as virus hits key industry. In April 2020, at 120,840, the sales figure from the KBA road transport authority was the lowest monthly reading since the German reunification in 1990. The German new car market declined by 61.1%. By April 20, car dealerships across Germany were forced to close because of the COVID19 outbreak, according to Peter Fuß, an industry expert at E&Y Consulting. The normal registration business of the car management station has also been affected. Last month, Volkswagen registered only about 20,700 new cars, down 64% from a year earlier. Car companies such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Opel are facing the same dilemma.

(Via GermanReport)

10. UK’s top COVID-19 adviser resigns

According to Bild, Professor Neil Ferguson, the UK’s COVID-19 adviser resigned because he had breached the lockdown. Ferguson's team has pushed the UK government to take more restrictive measures through modeling research. He went into self-isolation on March 18 after showing symptoms of the coronavirus.  However, according to Telegraph newspaper, he met his girlfriend on Mar. 30 at his home and met again later. Though he is the expert who advocated for the measure and emphasizes to the public that strict social isolation is necessary to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, he still allowed a woman to visit him twice.

(Via GermanReport)

11. Austria has finished 1/3 of its Marathon of Anti-COVID19

Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober and Federal Ministry of the Interior Nehammer held a government press conference to say that the situation in Austria has remained stable, and since the resumption of shops on April 14, there has been no rapid rise in the number of new infections, the Austrian newspaper reported. The daily increase in infections is 0.2% and the number of new cures far exceeded the number of new infections, and the number of confirmed cases continued to decline. But they thought that Austria is still not out of the crisis, and the "Marathon of anti-COVID19" has not yet completed. May is a key month, and most of the related measures will be implemented this month, with the biggest variable  being the effect of lifting the ban on public travel. If there is no sharp rebound in May, it means that the prevention and control of the COVID19 epidemic in Austria has achieved a big success. 

(Via GermanReport)

12. The number of new infections in Russia reached a new peak

According to the “Le Monde”, Russia is planning to loose the restrictions, but the number of new infections of COVID19 in Russia has risen to a new peak. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the number of daily increased cases in Russia has exceeded 11,000 for the first time. According to the Russian government, as of the 7th, the country had a total of 177,160 cases of infection. The capital Moscow, which enforced a rather strict restriction, also reached the peak of the data, with 6,703 cases increased in a single day. Worldwide, the number of cases in Russia is currently second only to the United States, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, ranking fifth. But despite this, from the next Tuesday, many areas will gradually resume work. 

(Via GermanReport)

13. Italian COVID 19 Epidemic is Getting Better, and Russia to start pullout of military personnel who helped Italy fight coronavirus on May 7

According to newspaper from France on May 7, Russia will start on May 7 their pullout from Italy where they helped fight the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the ministry’s conference call on Wednesday. However, the specific plans were not announced, and Italy thanked Russia for its help during the COVID19 outbreak. Russia sent more than 100 military personnel to Italy in late March to support the country's fight against the COVID19 outbreak, including virologists, epidemiologists, and doctors, but the move also caused controversy, with an article in the Italian newspaper El Pais in early April pointing out that Russia was hiding spies in its operations.