BUT AT LEAST ITALY AND SPAIN SEE MARKED FALL IN NEW CORONAVIRUS CASES AND LIVES LOST

CHINA showed there is hope at the end of a long tunnel called 'Covid-19' while France wept for its record number of new victims on a day of contrasting statistics thrown up by the enemy of Planet Earth.

Our nearest neighbours across the English Channel hit heartbreak with 1,417 new deaths and 11,059 additional cases. Some 10,328 people have now died in France of the virus and the country has recorded more than 109,000 cases.

Only Spain, Italy and the US is above them now in terms of most deaths and recorded cases.

At the other end of the scale, China reported zero daily deaths for the first time since the outbreak of deadly coronavirus in January with only 32 asymptomatic new cases announced from the National Health Commission.

Its death toll stayed at 3,331 in 81,740 recorded cases – sixth in the league table.

The daily new deaths in Spain and Italy are thankfully falling – the former had 556 new victims and the latter 604 more.

The UK recorded its worst single day for deaths – 786 – up to 6,159. It is now the fifth worst total in the world. Cases rose by nearly 4,000 to 55,242.

Nub News revealed earlier today that Atherstone and the West Midlands is braced for the worst of what may ultimately be only the first wave of the pandemic.

The town's main hospital – the George Eliot in Nuneaton – tweeted less than 48 hours ago that it expected a "peak in the next few days".