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Spanish children were allowed to go out on Sunday for the first time in six weeks as countries prepared to ease blockade measures and reopen economies destroyed by the coronavirus despite the number of deaths worldwide exceeding the 200,000.
The governments of Belgium to the United States are preparing for a partial reopening in an attempt to restore normality for almost half of humanity forced into some form of confinement due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Coronavirus cases worldwide have risen to 2.86 million and deaths have doubled since April 10, with more than half in Europe, according to an AFP count.
Daily cost in western countries seemed to be stabilizing and even falling, but fears abounded in many places of a second rise after movement restrictions were lifted.
Rejecting the advice of top disease experts, the US state of Georgia allowed thousands of companies to resume operations, from hair salons to bowling alleys.
“How long are we supposed to be incarcerated for?” said Mackenzie Scharf, 30, one of many in Georgia who accepts a return to something akin to normal.
“This is much safer than shopping,” she told AFP on the beach at Tybee Island, where her five-year-old son flew a kite under a clear sky.
The United States remains the most affected country with more than 53,000 deaths. It is followed by Italy with around 26,000, France and Spain with more than 22,000 each, and the United Kingdom, which has exceeded 20,000 deaths.
Spain has had one of the strictest blockades in the world since March 14, with healthy adults who are only allowed to leave the house to buy food or medicine or to briefly walk a dog, and children cannot go out under any circumstance so far.
But starting on Sunday, minors can walk, run or play up to an hour a day, accompanied by a parent, in an area that is no more than a kilometer from their home.
Hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide remained outside mosques on the second day of Ramadan and avoided traditional and large family meals to break their fasts during the day under the rules of social distancing.
And Australians and New Zealanders celebrated Anzac Day without the normal parades and public ceremonies to commemorate the fallen soldiers.
But as life under the blockade lengthens, the pressure of broken economies and citizens frustrated by orders to stay home causes people and officials in many countries to push to open up.
German police arrested dozens of protesters in Berlin on Saturday for ignoring the coronavirus blockade measures they were protesting against.
“‘When will we return to work?’ it’s a question on the minds of many people these days, “said Jane Fraser, the number two official at banking giant Citigroup, as New York cautiously prepared to return to business after more than a month of the virus closing.
France is slated to outline a comprehensive closure exit plan on Tuesday, and starting next weekend all Spaniards will be able to go out for exercise and walking.
As Italy approaches the end of the world’s longest active blockade, in place since March 9, citizens await a decision this weekend on what restrictions will be lifted. They will probably be allowed to leave their homes freely in early May.
Heavily affected Iran has consistently allowed companies to restart, but health officials on Saturday expressed fear of a “new outbreak” with 76 other reported deaths, bringing the country’s official death toll to more than 5,600. .
Alireza Zali, the capital’s health coordinator, criticized the “hasty reopens” that could “create new waves of disease in Tehran.”
While new reported cases appear to have stalled at around 80,000 per day, the world is still waiting as companies and governments compete to develop treatments and eventually a vaccine against the virus.
Some governments are looking at measures like “immunity passports” as a way to get people back to work after weeks of closings that have rocked the global economy.
“If I have already had a crown, then I am not infectious,” said Berlin resident Lothar Kopp, hoping to test positive for antibodies as it could allow him to visit his elderly mother.
But the WHO warned that people who survive the infection cannot be sure that they will not be affected again by the respiratory disease, which first emerged in China late last year.
“There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from # COVID19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
White House chief pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci said this week that the United States will certainly have a coronavirus problem in the fall, which could be complicated by the return of seasonal flu by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, in Beijing, a new set of regulations was introduced to combat the pandemic, prohibiting “uncivilized” behavior, such as not covering your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing.
The number of viruses in China has declined as it begins to cautiously lift control measures, although fears remain about a possible resurgence and infections imported from abroad.
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