TOP HEADLINES

• Italy has recorded 919 new COVID-19 deaths, its highest single-day figure so far, with 542 in Lombardy alone. It means 9,134 have now died from the virus in Italy.

• Spain's death toll has topped 5,000, rising 832 overnight – another record single-day death toll – to 5,690 from 72,248 cases (up 8,189 from Friday).

• UK deaths from COVID-19 are into four figures after the country's biggest single-day increase of 260 fatalities took the toll to 1,019. NHS England's medical director has said it is "possible to get on top of this virus" but also that keeping the UK death toll below 20,000 would be "a good result"

• Cases in Germany have passed 50,000, reaching 53,340; however, 399 deaths gives the country an extraordinarily low death rate. For why, see our correspondent Natalie Carney below

• Russia has announced it will close its borders from Monday

• Republic of Ireland has restricted public movement to food shopping or essential work, within 1.2 miles of home unless necessary

• Belgium has extended its lockdown until at least 19 April, while Germany's measures will not be eased before 20 April

• In an interview with several Italian newspapers, French president Emmanuel Macron has called for European unity: "What worries me is the illness of every man for himself… I do not want this selfish and divided Europe"

• The French military has airlifted two patients from the eastern city of Metz into Germany for treatment. The German air force is also flying in another six patients from Bergamo in Italy

• The Finnish army has set up roadblocks around Helsinki to enforce the capital's coronavirus lockdown

• Original epidemic epicenter Wuhan has started to loosen its lockdown after two months of isolation 

ACROSS EUROPE

By Guy Henderson in Berlin

A week ago, Berliners were still basking in the spring sunshine. This Saturday, with the skies clear blue again, the German capital is a very different place. The streets are quiet. Those who are out move alone or as a family. This week health officials suggested – tentatively – that Germany's rate of infection might just be slowing. But if anything, the complacency still evident in some seven days ago is less apparent now. The potential longevity of this crisis is slowly sinking in here.

Germany's health minister Jens Spahn assured Germans this week that some of the restrictions currently in place could be eased some time after Easter. His government still pushed an unprecedented $1.2 billion aid package through the Bundestag on Friday to shore up Europe's largest economy, the latest in a flurry of staggering financial support pledges announced by governments around the world. 

One of the planet's richest countries – and arguably one of the nations best-prepared for the coronavirus crisis – knows the economic damage will be lasting, whatever happens to its epidemic curve from here on in. Not least in Berlin itself, a city whose modern image as a continental hub for savvy start-ups risks being permanently transformed by a prolonged collapse in economic activity.

German business is mobilizing though, with the health of the nation more than the state of its own balance sheets in mind. Companies more used to making parts to service the country's world-renowned auto industry have shifted their focus to manufacturing ventilators. There are stories of clothes producers making face masks, and co-ordinating distribution with the German government. For all its preparedness, a shortage of protective clothing looks like Germany's achilles heel.

Lufthansa, the country's flagship airline, is adapting too: it has introduced social distancing measures on the vastly reduced number of flights it is currently running – except on planes carrying some of the 120,000 or so Germans being brought home from all over the world.

By Isobel Ewing in Budapest

Saturday is the first day of Hungary's "curfew" - the name given by the government to its new restrictions on people's movement.

Hungarians are permitted to go outside for "individual leisure sporting activities" such as walking, cycling, hiking and running, as long as they do so with members of their own household and maintain a distance of 1.5m from others.

They are allowed to go outside for essential errands and tasks, which include grocery shopping and visiting the pharmacy, but also visiting nail salons and hairdressers and going to church.

The Hungarian Maltese Charity Service has opened a quarantine facility in an unused building in Budapest for homeless people at risk of catching coronavirus. The new shelter will operate with increased safety standards, accept only people with conditions that make them vulnerable to COVID-19, and provide full boarding. Staff will be equipped with full protective gear.

Two aircraft will bring stranded Hungarians home from the USA and Canada next week, according to Hungarian foreign minister Peter Szijjarto.

Hungary has spent $762 million on measures related to the coronavirus pandemic, according to Finance Minister Mihály Varga. That spending includes $459 million spent on procurement directly related to dealing with the health impact of the virus and $281 million for measures to ease the fallout on the economy, Varga said.

By Aljosa Milenkovic in Belgrade

Serbia seems to be demonstrating how to "flatten the curve" – for the third consecutive day, the number of newly infected is hovering around 70 – but the death toll continues to rise. 

The partial lockdown of the entire country appears to have given some promising early results in containing the epidemic. On a down-note, Serbia's economy is taking hard blows. Almost all businesses have either stopped their operations or are idling. 

The government has asked employers not to fire workers, but with everything being at a standstill, that might be a burden too heavy for them. Many shops across the country are closed, and those which are open have shorter working hours from 7am to 3pm.

By Nicole Johnston in London

With the rate of infection in the UK doubling every three days, this weekend the government will start testing National Health Service workers to find out whether they have coronavirus. A number of drive-through testing centers are being established, including one in a former adventure park. 

The first wave of testing will include critical care doctors and nurses, staff in emergency departments, paramedics and GPs. Any self-isolating medical staff who are clear of the virus will be able to return to work.

Until now this antigen testing had focused on very ill patients and the government had been criticized for not expanding the testing to National Health Service employees. 

From Natalie Carney in Munich

Despite Germany's high number of COVID-19 cases (more than 53,000 according to Johns Hopkins University), the death rate in the country is exceptionally low at 0.62 percent compared to 7.6 percent in Spain and 10.2 percent in Italy.

One reason for this is the high number of tests it conducts, allowing for the early detection and treatment of the virus. Germany, which tests more people than any other European country, is testing roughly 500,000 people per week.

Germany also has excellent intensive care facilities, a young average age of infection, and has imposed strict precautionary measures on its residents leading to its low death rate. German clinics are also treating patients from Lombardy in northern Italy and a bordering region in France.

MARKETS AND BUSINESS

• The French government has said that companies given state financial support to overcome the coronavirus crisis must scrap dividend payments to their shareholders

• Ratings agency Fitch has cut Britain's sovereign debt rating to AA-, the same level as Belgium and the Czech Republic

• Airlines are to request a suspension of European Union rules requiring refunds for cancellations, instead issuing vouchers to passengers grounded by the pandemic

• French firm PSA, which makes Peugeot and Citreon cars, has had a safety plan to restart closed European plants rejected by the unions

• In London, the Financial Conduct Authority has warned that banks should think hard before designating a staff as "key workers" who can still send their children to school during Britain's coronavirus lockdown

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

From CGTN America: Americans under quarantine

From CGTN Africa: Zimbabwe orders total lockdown

From CGTN Beijing: Premier Li urges global co-operation against COVID-19

CGTN Europe has been providing in-depth coverage of the novel coronavirus story as it has unfolded. Here you can read the essential information about the crisis.