Reuters World News Summary

Following is a summary of current world news briefs. Coronavirus lockdowns give Europe's cities cleaner air

Air pollution has decreased in urban areas across Europe during lockdowns to combat the coronavirus, new satellite images showed on Monday, but campaigners warned city-dwellers were still more vulnerable to the epidemic. Cities including Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Milan and Frankfurt showed a reduction in average levels of noxious nitrogen dioxide over March 5-25, compared with the same period last year, according to the Sentinel-5 satellite images. U.S.-backed Kurdish-led group says militants riot in jail in northeast Syria

Islamic State prisoners on Sunday seized control of the ground floor of a major prison in northeastern Syria run by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with some of the militants managing to escape, an SDF spokesman said. The SDF, which is spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, mounted an operation to capture those who fled as security forces sent reinforcements to crush the mutiny in Hasaka prison, spokesman Mustafa Bali said in a tweet. Australia curbs gatherings, locks down travellers, in new coronavirus measures

Australia's most populous states will restrict public gatherings to two people from midnight, state leaders said on Monday, as part of a wave of new measures designed to slow the spread of coronavirus which has infected more than 4,000 across the country. The neighbouring eastern states of New South Wales and Victoria account for most of Australia's total COVID-19 infections and death toll, which stands at 17. 'No farewells, no ceremonies': China's Hubei cremates coronavirus dead

Ten unclaimed urns sit in the crematorium in Jingzhou, a city in central China's Hubei province hard-hit by coronavirus. Not only are funerals banned across China, in places like Jingzhou bereaved relatives who are stuck in their homes must wait even to retrieve the remains of their loved ones. Spain toughens restrictions as coronavirus death toll surges

Spain prepared to enter its third week under near-total lockdown on Sunday, as the government approved a strengthening of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus and the death toll rose by 838 cases overnight to 6,528. Second only to Italy in fatalities, Spain also saw infections rise to 78,797 from 72,248 the day before. Canada army not needed right now to help combat coronavirus spread: Trudeau

Canada is not planning for the moment to use troops to help combat a spreading coronavirus outbreak, although the option remains on the table, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sunday. All 10 provinces have declared states of emergency and ordered people to stay home. The number of cases rose to 5,866 from 5,655 on Saturday while the death toll is 63, up from 61, medical officials said. Modi seeks 'forgiveness' from India's poor over coronavirus lockdown

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the nation's poor for forgiveness on Sunday, as the economic and human toll from his 21-day nationwide lockdown deepens and criticism mounts about a lack of adequate planning ahead of the decision. Modi announced a three week-lockdown on Tuesday to curb the spread of coronavirus. But the decision has stung millions of India's poor, leaving many hungry and forcing jobless migrant laborers to flee cities and walk hundreds of kilometers to their native villages. Coronavirus deaths fall again in Italy but lockdown extension looms

The number of deaths from coronavirus in Italy fell for the second consecutive day on Sunday but the country still looked almost certain to see an extension of stringent containment measures. The Civil Protection department said 756 people had died in the last day, bringing the total to 10,779 - more than a third of all deaths from the virus worldwide. Britons warned some coronavirus lockdown measures could last months

Some lockdown measures to combat coronavirus in Britain could last months and only be gradually lifted, a senior medical official said on Sunday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the situation will get worse before it gets better. Britain has reported 19,522 confirmed cases of the disease and 1,228 deaths, after an increase of 209 fatalities as of 5 p.m. local time on Saturday compared with the previous day, the health ministry said. France moves patients from swamped hospitals as death toll climbs

France used two high-speed trains and a German military plane to move more than three dozen critically ill coronavirus patients on Sunday to ease the pressure on overwhelmed hospitals in eastern France. The Grand Est region was the first in France to be hit by a wave of coronavirus infections that has rapidly moved westwards to engulf the greater Paris region, where hospitals are desperately adding intensive care beds to cope with the influx.

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