Italians on the streets, Americans on the roads as the epicenter of the pandemic shifts to South America

(Patria) - The past 24 hours in China have passed without a single new case of coronavirus infection, for the first time since the first case was recorded in the city of Wuhan last year.

Italians are back on the streets after the lifting of movement bans and the opening of catering facilities, slowly returning to their old habits of spending time outdoors and enjoying coffee.

However, the mayors of the hardest-hit cities such as Bergamo, Milan, and Turin, fearing a second wave of the epidemic, are openly expressing their displeasure with the non-compliance with physical distancing measures. They threaten to tighten measures again and close cafes if citizens do not respect the basic measures of wearing masks and maintaining physical distance.

Italy is the second hardest-hit European country, immediately behind Great Britain, with 228,658 confirmed infections and 32,616 deaths. The country plans to open its borders to tourists as early as June 3 in an attempt to save the tourist season.

The number of confirmed new infections in Germany increased by 638 to 179,713, and the number of deaths also rose by 42 to a total of 8,352.

Despite the rising curve, Germans have left their homes to enjoy the good weather.

After more than two months of isolation, Americans also headed to beaches and vacation spots this weekend, with traffic tripling.

At the same time, the World Health Organization declared South America the new epicenter of the coronavirus, with Brazil having 333,000 and Chile 60,000 new infections.

In Australia, the death toll rose by 102.

Globally, 5,303,393 infections and 339,992 deaths have been confirmed.