Covid-19 statistics: Still far from the peak of this pandemic

A staff member checks equipment in the ICU room of a field hospital being set up in Cremona, Italy. With limited ICU beds in any country, the death rate will increase once medical resources run out, if no other measures are taken. — AP

It is an achingly beautiful spring day here in France, as I write this article.

The sun is blazing, the air is crisp and the birds are singing as I am locked down at home in one of the harshest self-confinement rules ever imposed by the country.