Europe, New York see progress in coronavirus battle

European nations hard hit by the coronavirus and the US epicenter New York reported headway Sunday in their battle against the deadly pandemic.

Governments across the world are now debating how and when to ease lockdowns that have kept more than half of humanity -- 4.5 billion people -- confined to their homes and crippled the global economy.

Europe saw encouraging signs Sunday, with Italy, Spain, France and Britain seeing drops in daily death tolls and slowing infection rates. The continent accounts for almost two-thirds of the 160,000 fatalities reported across the globe out of more than 2.3 million declared infections, according to an AFP tally.

And in the United States -- the country with the highest number of deaths and infections -- the governor of New York said the outbreak was "on the descent." Mounting evidence suggests that the lockdowns and social distancing are slowing the spread of the virus that first emerged in China last year.

The tentatively hopeful signs come with ..