[ad_1]
People walk along the Seine river on day 28 of a running of the bulls in France
France:
France extended its national blockade on Monday for another month in a bid to stem the coronavirus pandemic, as other affected countries considered easing their measures in hopes that death rates will soon stabilize.
More than half of humanity is now in confinement to contain the virus, which has killed at least 119,000 people and infected two million since it emerged in China late last year.
Most of the dead are in Europe, but the United States has also been hit hard, particularly New York state, where more than 10,000 have died, nearly half of all deaths in the country.
Governments around the world are under pressure to save their economies from collapse as a result of the massive closure of companies and the confinement of people, but officials are also trying to prevent a second deadly wave of the disease.
United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly stressed that he wants to open the world’s largest economy as quickly as possible, and said Monday that he will announce guidance this week on how to start stagnant businesses.
He controversially stated that, as president, he, not state governors, has the “highest authority” to decide when to restart the closed economy.
He also noted that the United States could have passed the worst of the outbreaks, even when its experts called for caution.
“It appears that we are stagnating, and perhaps even in many cases they are falling,” Trump told reporters about various US metrics, including new cases.
While the New York governor said the spike had passed on Monday, Spain began easing shutdown orders and Austria prepared to reopen some stores.
France did not do the same, but instead extended a blockade from March 17 to May 11, after which schools and businesses will gradually reopen.
President Emmanuel Macron said the epidemic “was beginning to stabilize … (and) hope is returning,” speaking in a televised address to the nation.
“May 11 will be the beginning of a new phase. It will be progressive and the rules can be adapted according to our results,” he added.
France reported a slight increase in hospital deaths on Monday, though still below its record number last week, and a slight drop in intensive care patients for the fifth consecutive day.
The World Health Organization said lifting the curbs too soon could trigger a second wave of cases, and warned that only a vaccine would completely stop the spread of COVID-19.
‘Road to normality’
But at some critical points, there was a hint of hope that normal life could soon resume.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said “the worst is over” in the state, saying he was working on a plan to gradually reopen the economy.
“I think we can now start on the road to normalcy,” he said.
The impact in New York has been brutal, with unclaimed victims buried in unmarked mass graves and makeshift morgues prepared for the dead.
Like the Trump administration, European governments were also interested in getting their economies back on track.
In Spain, where more than 17,000 died, construction and factory workers were allowed to return to work on Monday, and police handed facial masks at train stations to travelers.
“It is surprising that the government is doing this because you cannot find them in stores or they are very expensive,” said nurse Brenda Palacios, who took two masks.
Austria said it would reopen small shops, hardware stores and gardening on Tuesday after a month-long shutdown, with stabilization of coronavirus infections.
And Italy will reopen some bookstores and laundries on a trial basis on Tuesday, although it has officially extended its national closure until May 3.
Italy is the second most affected country after the United States and its death toll exceeded 20,000 on Monday. But the number of critically ill patients fell for the tenth consecutive day.
Meanwhile, German scientists recommended a gradual lifting of the restrictions later this week with the rate of new infections falling and a number of deaths still well below that of other major European nations.
WHO vaccine warning
But the World Health Organization warned that even the most careful reduction of blockages was not a substitute for a vaccine, a process that will likely take at least a year.
“Ultimately, it will take the development and delivery of a safe and effective vaccine to completely interrupt transmission,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a virtual conference from Geneva.
He added that the coronavirus was 10 times more deadly than the 2009-10 swine flu outbreak.
Similar warnings will weigh heavily on decisions made in other countries.
In Britain, Chancellor Dominic Raab warned that his three-week blockade will not be lifted this week as the virus has not yet peaked.
Raab replaces Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was released from the hospital on Sunday after being treated for coronavirus, thanking doctors who said they saved his life.
Britain recorded 717 deaths on Monday, a slight drop from the previous day, bringing the death toll to more than 11,000.
Infections on the rise in China
In China, authorities on Monday reported 108 new symptomatic cases, the highest number of confirmed infections in a single day in more than a month.
Imported cases accounted for most of the total, authorities said.
Russia reported its largest daily increase in cases so far, as the capital Moscow began issuing digital travel permits.
And in India, key industries warned of social unrest unless Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes concessions when he announces any extension Tuesday to a three-week blockade of the country’s 1.3 billion people.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
