Leaders divided on balance of profits, freedom and safety
Europe’s four worst-affected countries all reported marked drops in their daily death tolls, offering hope that the outbreak may have peaked in some places – at least for now.
But leaders and experts remain divided on how quickly to revive shuttered economies while maintaining a delicate balance between freedom and safety.
Italy and New York laid out partial reopening plans, with France and Spain to follow suit this week, while tens of thousands of final-year students returned to school in Shanghai and Beijing after months of closures.
Primary schools in Norway were also set to reopen on Monday, along with some businesses in Switzerland such as hairdressers and florists, while New Zealand prepared to begin its phased exit from a lockdown in the evening.
“There is no widespread, undetected community transmission in New Zealand,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared.
“We have won that battle,” she said.
More than 207,000 coronavirus deaths have been confirmed across the globe – over a quarter in the US.
Italy has the second highest death toll at 26,000, followed by Spain, France and Britain, all at well over 20,000.
But on Sunday Britain’s daily tally was the lowest since March 31, while Italy and Spain’s were the lowest in a month. France’s toll was a drop of more than a third on the previous day’s figures.
Those encouraging numbers blew relief through a continent frustrated by restrictions designed to slow the spread of the disease.
“We cannot continue beyond this lockdown – we risk damaging the country’s socioeconomic fabric too much,” said Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte as he unveiled a plan to emerge from Europe’s longest shutdown, in place since early March.
People will have to wear masks in public and rigorously observe social distancing measures when the country’s current restrictions are eased on May 4.
“If you love Italy, keep your distance from others,” he said.
The pandemic has forced more than half of humanity into lockdowns to stop the coronavirus from spreading – upending lives and tipping the global economy toward a recession of a severity not seen in decades.
Millions of Muslims are marking a Ramadan like no other – under restrictions for a month of dusk-to-dawn fasting that in happier times involves large family meals.
Saudi Arabia said it would partially lift its curfew but would maintain a round-the-clock lockdown in the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
In Spain, which has had some of the strictest measures in Europe, children ventured outside for the first time since mid-March on Sunday, some wearing small masks and gloves.
This hand out photo taken and released by DIRCO on Monday shows Cuban Health Specialists arriving at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria, South Africa to support efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19. The arrival of the 217 Cuban Health Specialists follows a request made by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel. Photo: AFP
