Europe relaxes, but Russia numbers spike
European restrictions start to lift but concern grows in Moscow about hospital surge
SPANIARDS filled the streets yesterday to exercise outside in gorgeous spring weather for the first time in seven weeks, while German children rushed to playgrounds as countries in western Europe moved ahead with the gradual relaxation of lockdown restrictions.
Russia and Pakistan, however, reported their biggest one-day spikes in new infections, in a sign the pandemic is far from over.
Concern was growing in Moscow about the possibility that hospitals might become overwhelmed after Russia recorded a new one-day high of 9,633 new infections, a 20pc increase over last Friday’s count which, itself, was a new daily record.
Russia has now reported 124,054 total cases, with 15,013 recoveries and 1,222 fatalities. True numbers are believed to be higher because not everyone is tested and Russian tests are reported to be only 70pc to 80pc accurate.
Moscow’s mayor said this week that officials are considering establishing temporary hospitals at sports complexes and shopping malls to deal with the influx of patients. Infection cases have reached the highest levels of government, with both the prime minister and the construction minister reporting they had contracted the virus.
At the same time, Spain, one of the worst-hit countries in the world with 24,543 deaths and more than 213,000 cases of Covid-19, was rolling back such emergency measures that helped bring the outbreak under control. A huge field hospital the military helped set up at a Madrid convention centre was closed last Friday, and the capital has already closed a makeshift morgue in a shopping mall.
Since Spain’s lockdown started on March 14, only adults have been able to leave home, for shopping for food, medicine and other essential goods, and to walk dogs close to home. The lockdown is credited with succeeding in reducing daily increases of infections from more than 20pc to less than 1pc.
As restrictions were relaxed yesterday, people ran, walked or cycled under a brilliant sky in Barcelona, where many flocked to the promenade to get as close as possible to the still-off-limits beach.
“I feel good, but tired. You sure notice that it has been a month and I am not in shape,” 36-year-old Cristina Palomeque said in Barcelona. “Some people think it may be too early, as I do, but it is also important to do exercise for health reasons.”
The government has set up time slots for age groups and activities, and social-distancing measures are still in place.
Spain has detailed a complex rollback plan that will vary by province. Those with the fewest cases and with healthcare resources to handle a rebound of the virus will be the first to enjoy a further loosening of the measures.
The virus has killed more than 238,000 people worldwide, including more than 65,000 in the US and more than 20,000 each in Italy, Britain, France and Spain, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University. Though each country registers Covid deaths differently. Health experts warn a second wave of infections could hit unless testing is expanded dramatically.
President Donald Trump said last Friday he hopes the total number of US deaths will be below 100,000, which he acknowledged is a “horrible number”.
As the crisis stabilises in some European countries and American states, governments are easing the shutdown of businesses that plunged the global economy into its deepest slump since the 1930s and wiped out millions of jobs.
Trump, running for reelection in the midst of an economic slump that has wiped out more than 10m jobs, is pressing state governors to lift anti-disease controls despite warnings this that might lead to a spike in infections.
In Italy, once the epicentre of the virus which has seen the than 28,000 deaths, people looked enviously on at Spain as they awaited their own relaxation of restrictions now that the number of new cases has levelled out.
Italy’s special commissioner for combating the coronavirus, Domenico Arcuri, said that the gradual loosening of the two-month lockdown, starting tomorrow, signals a new challenge, “which by now is clear to everyone; we don’t know how long it will last”.
More masks will be distributed for people using public transport, whose numbers are expected to climb as the manufacturing and construction sectors emerge from the lockdown. Stores, restaurants, bars and cultural sites remain closed until May 18.
Germany, which has registered more than 164,000 cases but seen only about 6,700 deaths, has strict social-distancing guidelines but never restricted people going outside for exercise. Smaller shops have already been opened and this is the first weekend in which playgrounds, museums and zoos have been permitted to open.
Elsewhere, China, where the pandemic began in December, reported a single new infection yesterday, extending a steady decline in confirmed cases. South Korea reported six new cases yesterday, none of them in the hard-hit city of Daegu in the southeast. Both countries are easing anti-virus controls and reviving economic activity.
But Pakistan yesterday announced 1,297 new cases, raising the total in the country of 220m people to 18,114.
The rise coincides with increased testing. The government said more than 9,000 tests were conducted in the previous 24 hours. Prime Minister Imran Khan has set a goal of 20,000 per day.
Photos in newspapers showed large numbers of the faithful at Pakistani mosques and only some following social-distancing rules. Khan’s government said it might ease controls, but doctors have pleaded for stricter lockdowns.
Africa now has more than 40,000 reported cases, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. There have also been more than 1,600 deaths across the continent from the virus, which has been reported in every country except for tiny and mountainous Lesotho.
‘Germany has strict social distancing guidelines but never restricted going outside for exercise’