A woman looks out from a window in Rome, Italy, on April 23, 2020. (Xinhua)

-- Italy registers lowest one-day deaths in six weeks, PM announces plan to ease coronavirus lockdown;

-- Spain's daily coronavirus death toll drops to 288;

-- France sees COVID-19 deaths up by 242 to 22,856, lowest daily increase in a week;

-- Belgium's COVID-19 death toll exceeds 7,000.

BRUSSELS, April 26  -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in European countries.

ROME -- The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 26,644 lives in locked-down Italy, bringing the total number of infections, fatalities and recoveries to 197,675 as of Sunday, according to latest data released by the country's Civil Protection Department.

Meanwhile, the number of new deaths, new infections and of patients in intensive care keeps declining.

A total of 260 people died from the disease caused by the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the lowest one-day death toll since March 15. The number of new cases also fell with 2,324 reported over the last 24 hours, 33 fewer than on Saturday. The figure is the lowest in six days.

The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units (ICUs) continued to decline, a trend that started three weeks ago. On Sunday, 2,009 patients were in ICUs, down from 2,102 a day earlier.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Sunday that beginning on May 4, the manufacturing, construction, and wholesale sectors can go back to work. They will be followed by retailers, museums, galleries, and libraries on May 18 and by bars, restaurants, hairdressers and beauty salons on June 1.