EU eyes war chest for recovery

Fund topping $1 trillion sought, but leaders split on formula for revival

European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to work toward building an emergency fund of about 1 trillion euros ($1.07 trillion) to help tackle the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to prop up the bloc's ravaged economies, but deep differences remain in how to achieve these goals.

At a video summit on Thursday, leaders of the 27-member bloc agreed that a recovery fund is "needed and urgent", European Council President Charles Michel said in his conclusions on the meeting. But no specific amount was unveiled.

French President Emmanuel Macron said following the summit that "no consensus is reached today, but it is an answer that we will have to provide".

"I believe that our Europe has no future if we cannot provide this answer," he said. "If we let part of Europe fall, all of Europe will fall with it."

In previous video summits on the pandemic, one of the sticking points was the so-called European recovery bond promoted by Italy and seven other eurozone states, but not favored by others. Italy wanted the bond to lift member states out of a recession and increase spending on healthcare.

The EU video summit, the fourth of its kind, came as 1,130,393 Europeans have contracted the coronavirus and over 110,000 of them have died as of Thursday, according to the latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

World leaders pledged on Friday to accelerate work on tests, drugs and vaccines against COVID-19 and to share them around the globe, but the United States did not take part in the launch of the World Health Organization initiative.

Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa were among those who joined a video conference to launch what the WHO had billed as a "landmark collaboration" to fight the pandemic.

The aim is to speed development of safe and effective drugs, tests and vaccines to prevent, diagnose and treat COVID-19, the lung disease caused be the novel coronavirus－and ensure equal access to treatments for rich and poor.

Key sign in Italy

The Italian region of Lombardy, the part of the country hardest hit by the outbreak, began antibody testing on Thursday as part of a strategy to set the table for the gradual reopening of its economy.

The serological tests will help identify people who have the coronavirus antibodies but are no longer infected, a sign that an individual has a natural or developed immunity to the virus. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the government would start loosening the terms of the national lockdown starting on May 4, and he is expected to unveil the details of eased restrictions in the coming days.

The daily number of patients who recovered on Thursday surpassed those for new infections for the first time in Italy since the pandemic began in February. There were 2,646 new coronavirus infections and 3,033 additional recoveries compared with Wednesday. The country had reported 189,973 cases and 25,549 deaths as of Thursday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Thursday for international cooperation on the development of a vaccine for the new coronavirus. Speaking to parliament in a session where lawmakers sat at a careful distance from one another in line with the country's social-distancing regulations, Merkel said German scientists were busily researching the virus at home, but that "international cooperation against the virus is extremely important".

On Friday, Spain said the number of daily coronavirus-related fatalities fell to its lowest level in more than a month, with 367 deaths on Thursday.

Meanwhile, British Health Minister Matt Hancock said the United Kingdom will keep lockdown measures in place until it is safe to ease restrictions despite the economic costs of the rules.

Earle Gale in London, Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.