Covid-19: Strict measures remain in place over Easter weekend

By Vatican News

This will be an Easter like no other as religious leaders worldwide urged people to mark the most important time in the Church’s calendar from the safety of their homes and authorities across Europe set up roadblocks to discourage travel.

Governments are spelling out that hard-won gains against the Coronavirus in a number of countries must not be put at risk by relaxing social distancing over the weekend.

There is still no letup in the Covid-19 virus that has ground much of the world to a halt. There has been a surge in deaths in Britain and more new infections in Japan. The US and in particular New York is continuing to be hit hard. On Thursday in the city 799 people died from the virus.

Around the world the number of people who have died from Covid-19 makes for grim reading. According to Johns Hopkins University 96,000 have lost their lives and confirmed infections have reached an estimated 1.6 million.

Unemployment and aid amid Covid-19

But the story doesn’t end there. The virus has also wrought havoc on people’s livelihoods. Numbers released Thursday by the U.S. government showed that 6.6 million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week.

Meanwhile, governments from the 19 countries that use the euro have approved a package of measures that could provide more than a half-trillion euro to help companies, workers and health systems.

Despite the shocking daily death tolls, some countries are seeing encouraging signs that this pandemic is stabilizing. France, Italy and Spain have reported a drop in new infections, hospitalizations and deaths.