SOME COUNTRIES PRISE OPEN COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS
ROME/LONDON: Countries from Italy to New Zealand have announced the easing of coronavirus lockdowns but Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, back at work on Monday after being hospitalised with the disease, said it was too early to relax restrictions there.
Nearly 3 million people have been infected by the coronavirus across the world and 205,948 have died, according to a Reuters tally of official figures. But many countries are looking to ease lockdowns as rates of infections fall and fears of economic ruin rise.
The world’s worst pandemic in a century, which started in China in December before creeping across the globe, has forced a dilemma upon governments. People cooped up in their homes for weeks on end are growing frustrated and anxious about what the future holds.
And with economic activity from shops and bars to factories and tourism severely curtailed, prolonged recessions are forecast for many countries.
But with no antidote yet found for the coronavirus, leaders are also acutely aware that a second wave of infections could sweep over their countries just as life gets back to some kind of normal.
Italy, which has the world’s secondhighest rate of coronavirus deaths at more than 26,000, will allow factories and building sites to reopen from May 4 and permit limited family visits as it prepares a staged end to Europe’s longest coronavirus lockdown, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Sunday.
Italy is looking ahead to a second phase of the crisis in which it will attempt to restart the economy without triggering a new wave of infections.
New Zealanders will be able to go fishing, surfing, hunting and hiking this week for the first time in more than a month as it begins to ease its way out of a strict lockdown.
About 400,000 people will return to work after the country shifts its alert level down a notch at midnight on Monday, but shops and restaurants will remain closed.
New Zealand’s 5 million residents were subjected to one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern closing offices, schools, bars and restaurants, including take away and delivery services, on March 26.
In Norway, schoolchildren from first to fourth grades returned to schools for the first time since mid-march, while a range of small businesses, including hairdressers, were allowed to open.
Germany’s economy minister urged its 16 states on Monday to reopen slowly. As the number of new infections has fallen, many businesses like smaller stores or car dealerships have been allowed to reopen and some students are returning to schools.
In Spain, one of the worst-hit countries, children went outside on Sunday, emerging from their homes for the first time after six weeks of living under one of Europe’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns.
Israel on Sunday allowed some businesses to reopen and said it was considering letting children return to school.
Croatia on Monday began easing curbs, allowing smaller shops, libraries and museums to reopen. Serbia allowed small businesses and food markets to open their shutters, eased an overnight curfew and allowed elderly to venture outside three times a week.
Romania said it would not extend the current state of emergency past May 15, when people will be able to move around with documentation.
In the United States, which has recorded the world’s highest infection and death tolls, critics have accused President Donald Trump of mixed and confusing messages on the coronavirus as states have bickered with the White House over how to handle the outbreak and when to reopen the economy.
Georgia, Oklahoma and several other states took tentative steps at restarting businesses on Friday, despite disapproval from Trump and medical experts.
Nearly 3 million people have been infected by the coronavirus across the world and 205,948 have died. But many countries are looking to ease lockdowns as rates of infections fall and fears of economic ruin rise