Italy coronavirus death toll jumps to 52; 4 dead in France

Italy reported Monday a jump in the death toll from the coronavirus to 52, with more than 2,000 people infected, most of whom were in the country’s northern Lombardy region.

The civil protection agency said 18 people had died since Sunday — including three in Emilia Romagna — all of whom were either elderly or had serious preexisting medical conditions.

In Italy, Europe’s hardest-hit country, infections nearly doubled over the weekend.

Also Monday, Israel’s Health Ministry announced that two more people in the country were found to have the disease, bringing the total to 12 confirmed cases, with no deaths.

Both the Israelis were recently in Italy.

Earlier Monday, the Le Parisien newspaper reported that two more people had died in France of the novel coronavirus, bringing the French death toll from the disease to four.

Both died in the Oise region of northern France, the report said, citing three sources, one of them the mayor of Compiegne.

One of the two recent deaths was said to be an elderly woman in a town that already lost a schoolteacher to the disease.

There have been 130 confirmed cases of people infected with the virus, officially known as COVID-19, in France, of whom 49 were diagnosed in the Oise region, making it the hardest hit area of the country.

The virus has now infected more than 89,000 worldwide, spread to over 60 countries and is threatening to cause a global economic slowdown — after first emerging in China late last year.

Europe raised its state of alert on Monday, as the death toll from the new coronavirus epidemic surpassed 3,000 and more people died in China, Iran, and the US.

In Brussels, EU President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) had increased its risk assessment for Europeans after Italy’s outbreak doubled in 48 hours.

Health officials monitoring the virus at the ECDC announced that it had increased its risk assessment to “moderate to high.”