The pandemic asserts

all over the world despite the stabilization of major outbreaks such as those in Italy or Spain.

The situation is especially worrying in the US, where there are already 312,000 infections. So much so that the Director General of Public Health, Jerome Adams, has advanced that his country will live this week a moment "like Pearl Harbor or 9/11", given the high number of deaths expected.

According to data released today by the World Health Organization, 82,000 new cases have been confirmed worldwide today, bringing the global number to 1,133,758, while the deaths are 62,884, 5,799 more than the previous day.

Although the recovered patients also grow - 253,000, according to the different national authorities - and there is already another country that has begun to exit the state of emergency: Iran.

A 9/11 ALL OVER THE COUNTRY

"This is going to be the hardest and saddest week in the lives of most Americans, frankly," Adams said during an interview with Fox News television.

“This is going to be our (similar) Pearl Harbor moment, 9/11, only it's not going to be concentrated in one place. It is going to happen all over the country, ”he added.

More than 2,400 Americans were killed in the surprise Japanese attack on the Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) military base in 1941, while another 2,996 were killed in the September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. from New York, the Pentagon and the plane crash in Pennsylvania.

Deaths from the new coronavirus in the United States have already exceeded both figures, with more than 8,500 until this Sunday, but the acceleration of infections and deaths in recent days have generated even bleaker forecasts for the coming week.

ITALY AND SPAIN DECELERATE

In the other two great sources of contagion, Italy and Spain, the situation, even within gravity, seems to be taking a different turn.

At 15,887, Italy continues to be the country with the most deaths from coronavirus, but today's death toll, 525, is the lowest recorded since March 19, which seems to confirm a downward trend.

In Spain, 674 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours and 6,023 new infected, figures that also show a drop compared to previous days.

After announcing on Saturday an extension of the measures adopted at the start of the pandemic, including the confinement of the population until April 26, the Spanish government is now preparing for a second stage of "de-escalation" or transition, once the peak of infections.

EUROPEAN RESCUE FUND

Precisely, it is in Italy and Spain where they are most pending of the actions of the European Union to avoid a disaster of their economies.

The Eurogroup is working on a package of measures that involves using the credit lines of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) -the rescue fund-, mobilizing up to 200,000 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and activating an aid fund against unemployment.

The ministers of economy and finance of the European Union meet by videoconference on April 7 with the aim of agreeing on a new set of actions.

In the meetings to prepare for the meeting held this week, the countries have also discussed the French proposal to create a temporary fund to finance the recovery, as well as the Dutch initiative of a fund of between 10 and 20 billion to pay for health spending in the countries. most affected.

The fund would be available for three years and would be nourished by the voluntary contributions of the member states, according to the draft proposal to which Efe had access.

IRAN BEGINS TO SEE THE LIGHT

And while most of the world is going through or waiting for the hardest phase, some, like Iran, begin to glimpse a way out.

The one that was one of the main initial sources of contagion after China, will resume part of its economic activity in a few days, after confirming a decrease in the number of contagions for the fifth consecutive day.

As announced by the president of this country, Hasan Rohaní, "low-risk economic activities" will resume on April 11 in the provinces, while in Tehran they will do so on April 30, although he did not specify which ones were involved.

The face-to-face classes will remain suspended until at least the 18th, when it is possible that they will resume in the universities, while on the sacred places such as mausoleums it will also be decided from that date.

The reopening will be "gradual", according to Rohaní, who pointed out, for example, that in the offices only two thirds of the employees will go to work at the same time and that the general hours will be from 7:00 to 14:00.

AN ATYPICAL HOLY WEEK

Apart from data of contagion and economic measures, the pandemic left one of the images that will be remembered today: the Pope starting Easter almost alone and inside the Basilica of San Pedro, not before thousands