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Germany, South Korea, Israel and several other countries plan to ease coronavirus lockdowns this week as governments come under mounting pressure to reduce the economic and social pain caused by the safety measures.
As Europe approached a grim milestone of 100,000 confirmed deaths, recriminations continued over Covid-19’s origins, with a lab in Wuhan rejecting a theory pushed in the US that it might have engineered the virus, and Donald Trump warning China of consequences if it is found to be “knowingly responsible”.
After a week of slowing infection rates the Israeli government announced it was easing the stringent quarantine measures in place for the past five weeks. It will allow the partial reopening of hardware, electronic and office supply stores, and group prayer outdoors – for up to 19 people standing two metres apart – and extend the perimeter for exercise to 500m from a person’s home.
Pre-schools, schools, hairdressers and shopping malls will remain closed, and people will continue having to wear a mask in public spaces, with fines for non-compliance.
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The country of 9 million has had 158 casualties and around 13,000 cases. The relaxed measures will be trailed for a fortnight, and tougher restrictions reinstated if the infection rate grows again.
Maharashtra, India’s worst-hit state with more than 3,600 confirmed cases among its population of 114 million, said some activity would be permitted in its least-affected areas while maintaining a strict lockdown in zones that have the most infections.
“We need to start the economic wheels again,” the state’s chief minister, Uddhav Thackeray, said on Sunday. “We are giving selective permissions from tomorrow, especially in [less affected] orange zones and green zones.”
Outdoor facilities
South Korea reported only eight new coronavirus cases on Sunday, and said it would loosen some of its lockdown restrictions.
The prime minister, Chung Sye-kyun, said the government would consider opening public outdoor facilities and would relax guidelines on the circumstances in which sports facilities and restaurants can open. Other measures that were due to expire on Sunday were extended until May 5th.
South Korea has recorded 10,661 infections and 234 deaths. “We must not let down our guard until the last confirmed patient is recovered,” the president, Moon Jae-in, said on Sunday.
While Germany, Albania and New Zealand also prepared to cautiously relax their quarantine regimes, the UK, which is still in the middle of its outbreak, said it was too soon to give dates on easing the lockdown.
Pushbacks against lockdown measures continue elsewhere, including in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and the capital, Brasilia, people took to the streets calling for the resignation of politicians who had decided to implement strict controls.
The president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been fiercely critical of the measures and on Thursday he fired his health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who had defended physical distancing.
On Saturday Bolsonaro gave further hints that he planned to reopen the economy soon. “People want a return to normality,” he said in a Facebook Live session. “We’re going to start adding more flexibility.”
Brazil is South America’s worst-affected country with 36,925 confirmed infections and 2,372 reported deaths.
Origins
Protests were also held in some US cities, spurred on by Trump’s calls for some states be “liberated” from their lockdowns.
At a White House briefing on Saturday, Trump questioned the origins of the disease, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan in China in December.
“Was it a mistake that got out of control or was it done deliberately?” he said. “If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences,” he added, when asked about China’s role and potential repercussions.
Covid-19 was probably first transmitted to humans at a market where exotic animals were slaughtered, according to Chinese scientists. However, theories that the virus came from a maximum-security virology lab have been brought into the mainstream in recent days by US government officials.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said an investigation was under way into how the virus “got out into the world”.
Yuan Zhiming, the head of the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, said in an interview with state media: “There’s no way this virus came from us. I know it’s impossible.”
Prisoners
Iran has extended furloughs for prisoners for another month. “Furloughs of those prisoners who pose no threat to the society have been extended until May 20th,” said the president, Hassan Rouhani, in a televised cabinet meeting. Around 100,000 convicted people have been temporarily released in the country.
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, said on Saturday he would ask parliament for a third 15-day extension of lockdown measures, taking the restrictions up to May 9th.
Spain’s Covid-19 death toll rose by 410 on Sunday, the lowest daily increase since March 22nd.
– Guardian service