EU Covid deaths top 500,000

PARIS: More than 500,000 people have officially died of Covid-19 in the European Union, according to a tally compiled by AFP as of Wednesday, with the situation appearing to improve in the worst-hit countries.

The grim milestone was reached late on Tuesday; by 1200 GMT on Wednesday the death toll stood at 501,531 from 20,548,666 cases. The European Union includes some of the world’s worst-hit countries in the pandemic that broke out in the region early last year -- in Italy. But recent trends point to improvements across the 27-member bloc.

During the seven-day period of February 3-9, the EU as a whole recorded an average daily of 103,250 new infections, which was 16 percent down on the previous week. The average number of deaths each day was 3,137, or seven percent fewer.

Among the member states hardest hit by the pandemic, Spain showed the steepest decrease in new cases, with a drop of 31 percent to a daily average of 21,945.Meanwhile, US intelligence on the supposed origin of the coronavirus pandemic was not reliable, a member of the special WHO mission to China said Wednesday, after Washington cast doubt on the transparency of the probe.

The World Health Organisation mission ended on Tuesday without finding the source of the virus, but members had to walk a diplomatic tightrope during their stay, with the US urging a "robust" probe and China warning against politicising the issue.

Information dribbled out via their personal Twitter accounts during the mission, but more details and opinions emerged as they prepared to leave the country.Peter Daszak, a member of the WHO team, waded directly into the murky geopolitics which covers the pandemic origin story.

President Joe Biden "has to look tough on China", he said in a tweet, adding: "Please don’t rely too much on US intel: increasingly disengaged under Trump & frankly wrong on many aspects." Daszak also tweeted that they worked "flat out under the most politically charged environment possible".

His comments were linked to an article referencing US state department comments which cast doubt over the transparency of China’s co-operation with the WHO mission. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the White House "clearly support this investigation", but shared criticism that China concealed information.

Asked if China had fully cooperated with the WHO team, Price told reporters: "I think the jury’s still out." In turn, Beijing emphasised on Wednesday that the China probe is just "one part" of an investigation into the origins. "We hope that the US, like China, will adopt an open and transparent attitude and invite WHO experts to carry out research and studies in the US," said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.