Europe hit more than three million coronavirus cases on Thursday, while spiking infection numbers from Belgium to Tokyo and Melbourne led authorities to reimpose restrictions on citizens.
While EU lawmakers combed through a huge aid package for their economies, the UN called for a basic income for the world’s poorest to help slow the spread of the pandemic, and the Red Cross warned of “massive” new migration caused by the economic devastation.
The European continent now accounts for a fifth of the world’s more than 15 million cases and remains the hardest hit in terms of deaths, with 206,633 out of 627,307 worldwide.
750-billion-euro post-coronavirus recovery plan was hammered out at an EU summit this week, where fiscally-rigid nations butted heads with hard-hit countries like Spain and Italy that have called for huge aid grants.
EU chief Charles Michel said the total stimulus would eventually reach 1.8 trillion euros ($2.2 trillion).
“This moment, it’s my conviction, is pivotal in European history. We acted fast and with urgency,” Michel told the bloc’s parliament in Brussels.
“Europe’s response is greater than that of the United States or China,” he said.
Europe’s response is greater than that of the United States or China,” he said.
Meanwhile, the UN warned that the world’s poorest also need help.
Funding of $199 billion per month would provide 2.7 billion people with a temporary basic income and the “means to buy food and pay for health and education expenses”, the UN Development Programme said.
“Bailouts and recovery plans cannot only focus on big markets and big business,” said UNDP administrator Achim Steiner.
