Virus: Europe emerges from lockdown
MILLIONS of Europeans emerged from lockdown on Monday, with hardest-hit Italy leading the way out of its two-month new coronavirus confinement.
At least 3.5 million people are now known to have been infected by the disease, but US President Donald Trump offered hope for an end to the nightmare, saying there would be a vaccine by year’s end.
Around 248,000 people have died since the coronav irus emerged late last year and swept across the globe, given wings by the vast network of air routes t hat in normal times keep the modern world tick ing.
Lockdowns imposed on half of the planet in a bid to stem the spread have derailed economies and left tens of millions of people out of work.
Politicians are now grappling with how to get the wheels turning again without sparking a second wave of infections.
Italy – second only to the US in its Covid-19 death toll – was gingerly emerging into the spring sunshine on Monday, with construction sites and factories getting back to work.
The previously booming economy in the US was supposed to be the centrepiece of Donald Trump’s November re-election bid.
But weeks of lockdown have left 30 million US citizens out of work – and the president’s poll numbers sagging.
The US has the most coronavirus deaths in the world at more than 67,600.
Trump forecast great leaps in prevention over the coming months. “We are very confident that we’re going to have a vaccine at the end of the year, by the end of the year.”
But, he acknowledged: “The doctors would say ‘well, you shouldn’t say what I think.”
Germany’s health minister on Monday poured cold water on that optimism, saying vaccines can “take years”, describing their development as “one of the most challenging and difficult tasks in medicine”.
Virologists say that until there is an effective vaccine against the coronavirus, life will continue to look different, with social restrictions becoming the norm.
However, many parts of Asia have begun to inch towards a post-pandemic life, with schools in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi reopening on Monday.
The decision to reopen schools came after the Southeast Asian nation eased social that’.
I’ll say distancing measures at the end of last month – with experts pointing to a decisive response involving mass quarantines and expansive contact tracing for its apparent success in containing the disease.
Malaysians started slowing returning to their offices, cars were on the roads in greater numbers and joggers enjoyed runs outside for the first time in weeks, as a strict lockdown to fight the virus was eased.
Most businesses have been allowed to reopen as long as employees practise social-distancing, although those where people could come into close contact – such as cinemas – must stay closed for now.
Malaysia has had a relatively small outbreak, so far reporting about 6,300 infections and around 100 deaths.
Australia and New Zealand discussed creating a “transTasman bubble” that would allow travel between the two countries.
Japan’s government prepared to extend its nationwide state of emergency to the end of May as it braced for a lengthy battle against the coronavirus pandemic.
Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre on Monday confirmed a new case, bringing the tally to 437. With just six deaths, Taiwan has been lauded as one of the areas with the quickest response to the outbreak – taking swift control of the situation instead of fuelling chaos.
Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organisation’s Health Emergencies Programme told a press briefing last month:“The health authorities in Taiwan deserve praise. They’ve mounted a very good public health response in Taiwan and you can see that in the numbers.
“The professionals and health workers in Taiwan have stood on the front line, they’ve served and they have done service to their populations, as many others have around the world,” he said.
Islamic State group remnants in Iraq are exploiting a coronavirus lockdown, coalition troop withdrawals and simmering political disputes to ramp up deadly attacks, analysts and intelligence officials have said.
The bloodiest so far was an ambush early on Saturday that killed 10 Iraqi fighters north of Baghdad that observers say demonstrated a new escalation in the jihadist group’s tactics but one that could still be contained.
Russia is rapidly becoming Europe’s blackspot, with officials in Moscow urging residents to stay home in an effort to tamp down the growing daily tally of new cases.
Most European governments are advocating continued social distancing and masks in public, as well as more testing to try to track infections.
Portugal allowed small shops, hair salons and car dealers to resume business from Monday but ordered facemasks to be worn in stores and on public transport.
Nose and mouth coverings are also mandatory on public transport in neighbouring Spain.
Slovenia, Poland and Hungary joined Germany in allowing public spaces and businesses to partially reopen.