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We are living in an historic era.

The world is experiencing the greatest crisis since WWII.

The total freezing of the global economy and social life is a phenomenon that is historically unique.

The projections of analysts, economists, and international organisations point to an horrific landscape the day after the pandemic.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide reached roughly 1.5 million on April 9 as the pandemic swept across the globe.

Johns Hopkins University's website showed over 88,538 people have died from the virus. The total number of people recovered from COVID-19 neared 330,000 according to the data.

Europe

The novel coronavirus has so far killed 222 Turkish citizens living abroad, diplomatic sources said on April 8. 

A total of 74 in France, 46 in Germany, 37 in the Netherlands, 19 in the U.K., 18 in Belgium, 10 in the U.S., 10 in Sweden, four in Austria, three in Switzerland, and one in Lebanon died from the virus.

North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state and one of the hardest hit, paid 14.7 million euros for some 10 million masks in March only to discover they did not exist, according to prosecutors in Traunstein, Bavaria, quoted by AFP.

Turkey's foreign minister discussed on April 7 the fight against coronavirus pandemic with 11 of his counterparts.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Twitter that he held the fourth teleconference meeting with his counterparts from Canada, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, Morocco, Peru, Singapore, South Africa, and the U.K.

While Turkey's struggle against the COVID-19 virus brings more rigid actions for social life, the arts and culture scene is trying to survive with what they have in hand. On the other hand, Turkey's contemporary art scene stays positive and active amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Markets and all EU member-states, especially those in Southern Europe which like Greece seek some form of mutualisation of debt have been  focusing like a laser beam on today's Eurogroup meeting and analysts expect joint action to help prop up the economies of member states - possibly including even so-called coronabonds.

Vietnam has donated 550,000 masks to 5 European countries today to support their fight against COVID-19. They are made of antibacterial fabric and have been handed over to the ambassadors of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said.

The disastrous impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is pushing Europe towards an existential crossroads. In defining the measures to respond to the crisis, two opposite blocks are forming: the front of the southern countries ("South") with larger public debts and weaker economic growth and the one of the northern countries ("North") with accounts in order and significantly lower debt-to-GDP ratios.

See also:

Live: Coronavirus Updates

Why Populists Love the Pandemic

In Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and (in a way) the UK, anti-establishment populists now lead governments; in Germany, France, and Italy, they are major components of the parliamentary opposition.