As Italy reports new deaths, European Commission urges member states to extend temporary non-essential travel ban

As Italy reported more deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic, European Commission urged EU member states to extend the temporary ban on non-essential travel into union by one month until June 15.

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The European Union said "the situation remains fragile both in Europe and in the world".

"We will have to gradually put an end to restrictions on free movement and internal border controls, before we can lift entry restrictions at the external borders and guarantee access to the EU for third country nationals," the EU's Home Affairs European Commissioner Ylva Johansson said.

Health officials in Italy said that 30,201 people had died of the virus with 217,185 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The United Kindom also witnessed a surge in the death toll with over 31,000 fatalities.

There are currently 212,626 cases of the virus in the United Kingdom which is next only to Spain and Italy in Europe. The United States has the most number of COVID-19 cases with over 1.2 million cases.

France has witnessed 174, 918 cases of the virus with over 25,000 deaths. In Spain over 26,000 people have died due to the virus with the country still grappling with more than 221, 447 infected cases which is the highest in Europe.