One million coronavirus cases reported in Europe

Paris: More than one million cases of the coronavirus have been detected in Europe, just over half the global total, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources at 0830 GMT Wednesday.

With at least 1,003,284 cases, including 84,465 deaths, Europe is the worst hit continent. Globally, 1,991,019 COVID-19 infections and 125,955 deaths have been registered.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organization (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries are testing only the most serious cases.

Spain, with 172,541 cases and 18,056 deaths, Italy (162,488 and 21,067), France (143,303 and 15,729) and Germany (127,584 and 3,254) are the only European countries with more than 100,000 infections.

Britain, with 93,873 cases and 12,107 deaths, is the country that currently has highest daily number of new cases.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought top world economies to a grinding halt and has adversely affected various sectors. With more than half of the globe under lockdown, one of the sectors to take a massive hit is the tourism industry.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the tourism sector accounts for one in ten jobs across the globe but due to the coronavirus crisis, as much as 75% of it under threat.

"Research conducted by WTTC shows that 75 million Travel & Tourism jobs are at risk globally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with at least 6.4 million losses across the EU, and one million in the UK," mentions WTTC on its webpage. The coronavirus pandemic has shut the tourism sector and countries like Spain and Italy, that depend massively on their tourism industry, have taken a huge hit.

According to WTTC data, Spain and Italy, two of the European nations to have borne a severe brunt of the coronavirus outbreak, reap close to 15% of their total GDP from the tourism sector. As per the 2019 figures, Spain accrued nearly 14% to its GDP through its tourism and travel sector. For Italy, the figure stood at around 13%. Other nations with a significant hit to their travel and tourism sector include China, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. All these nations have around 8-10%, more for some countries, of their GDPs benefit from the tourism sector.

Coronavirus cases have crossed over 2 million worldwide. Over one lakh people have lost their lives to the deadly contagion that originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan last year in December.