Foreign Desk Report
LONDON: Spanish children were allowed outside on Sunday for the first time in six weeks as countries eased lockdown measures and reopen economies gutted by the coronavirus pandemic that has infected nearly three million people worldwide.
Governments from France to Italy and the United States are gearing up for a partial easing of severe restrictions that have kept more than half of humanity indoors for weeks on end. Coronavirus cases around the world rose to 2.9 million and deaths have doubled since April 10 hitting nearly 203,000 people on Sunday with well over half of them in Europe, according to a tally.
The daily toll in Western countries appeared to be levelling off and even falling, but fears abound in many places of a second surge after restrictions on movement are lifted.
Governments are planning to slowly peel back lockdown measures in order to avoid a sudden rush back to normal life and the risk of a resurgence amid warnings from the World Health Organisation (WHO) that recovered people might not be immune to re-infection. Spanish families embraced new rules allowing children outside for the first time since March 14, with kids hopping on bicycles and scooters on the streets of Madrid and Barcelona some wearing small masks and gloves.
“They are super excited, very, very impatient. They were up at 6:30 am, saying ‘We are going out, We are going out!’,” Inmaculada Paredes told media, readying to take her seven and four-year-old kids outdoors.
Under the revised rules, children are allowed out once per day between 9:00 am and 9:00 pm, but cannot venture more than one kilometre from their homes.
The new rules were rolled out as the death toll in the hard-hit country dropped to 288 people on Sunday, the lowest since March 30. With more than 23,000 fatalities, Spain has the third highest death toll in the world after Italy’s 26,000 and more than 53,000 in the United States.
Other hard-hit countries across Europe are also starting to look toward a slow crawl back to normality.
Italy on Sunday said schools would reopen in September, while many businesses could resume work next week, and France was expected to unveil details of its de-confinement plan on Tuesday.
Belgium said schools and businesses will reopen from mid-May, while Germany started to reopen some shops earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia on Sunday said it would partially lift its 24-hour curfew, allowing malls and retailers to open their doors during certain hours.
But the kingdom said it would maintain a round-the-clock lockdown in the Muslim holy city of Makkah. Worshippers in the country joined hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world who marked the second day of Ramadan at home, avoiding traditional, large family meals to break their day-time fasts under social distancing rules. Rejecting the advice of top disease experts, the US state of Georgia allowed thousands of businesses to resume operations, from hairdressers to bowling alleys.
