EUROPE

French police have seized 140,000 face masks destined to be sold on the black market in a record haul since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Two men, aged 46 and 60, were arrested while they were unloading boxes in Saint-Denis, just north of Paris, a police source said on Sunday.

One of them said he was a business owner and had bought the masks, including 5,000 FFP2 protective masks, in the Netherlands for a total of 80,000 euros.

The masks were to be sold to construction companies for a large profit, according to police.

Black market
It is the largest seizure since the French government banned the resale of protective masks on 3 March in order to prioritise their distribution to health workers in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March, 32,500 masks from China were seized from a warehouse near Paris. A man was also arrested in possession of more than 23,000 face masks in Paris' 16th arrondissement.

Europe's hardest-hit countries reported promising drops in coronavirus daily death tolls on Sunday, as governments around the world started peeling back lockdown measures in a bid to restore normal life and resuscitate crippled economies.

Children in Spain were allowed outside for the first time in six weeks on Sunday, while hairdressers and other shops are set to reopen in Switzerland this week.

Badly-hit Italy said many businesses would be able to resume next week and France planned to announce how it would start the slow crawl back to normality.

And in the US state of Georgia, a loosening of lockdown rules prompted beach gatherings at the weekend.

With European Union leaders due to hold a meeting by videoconference on how to deal with the coronavirus crisis this Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte addressed first the country's Senate and then the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday afternoon.

Conte told those gathered in the upper and lower houses of parliament following his address, that he did not expect EU leaders to deliver their final word during Tursday's conference.

“I don't believe the upcoming meeting of the 27 leaders will find a definitive solution but I will do everything to ensure it expresses a clear political path in the only reasonable direction,” Conte said.

Italy wants the EU to share the cost of rebuilding the economies devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

France extended its nationwide lockdown on Monday for another month in a bid to halt the coronavirus pandemic, as other hard-hit countries considered easing their measures with hopes rising that death rates may soon plateau.

More than half of humanity is now under confinement to contain the virus, which has killed at least 119,000 people and infected two million since emerging in China late last year.

Most of the dead are in Europe, but the United States has also been hard hit -- particularly New York state where more than 10,000 have died, close to half of all fatalities in the country.

The Duchess of Cornwall and her husband, Prince Charles, have been separated for 14 days after the heir to the British throne tested positive for the coronavirus last month.

Although Camilla tested negative for the virus, she had to remain in isolation for 14 days. Both were self-isolating in the couple’s Birkhall Estate in Scotland according to UK regulations. Now, they’ve finally been reunited, People reports.

A royal insider has said that the pair have emotionally supported each other during this trying time, despite being in self-isolation in different parts of their residence.