The lockdown debate

MADRID • Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus epidemic, yesterday started to ease tough lockdown restrictions that have kept people confined to their homes for more than a month and put a brake on economic activity.

Spain's death toll from the virus rose to 17,489 yesterday, up 517 from 16,972 on Sunday, the Health Ministry said. Confirmed cases totalled 169,496, up from 166,019 the previous day.

However, this was the smallest proportional daily increase in the number of deaths and new cases.

With signs indicating that the situation was taking a tentative turn for the better, some businesses, including construction and manufacturing, were allowed to reopen.

But most of the population were still confined to their homes, and shops, bars and public spaces will remain closed until at least April 26.

People at main transport hubs were handed masks by the police as they went to work yesterday.

"The health of workers must be guaranteed. If this is minimally affected, the activity cannot restart," Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told Cadena Ser radio station.

Lockdown restrictions have helped slow a spiralling death rate that reached its peak earlier this month, but they have tested the resolve of people cooped up inside their homes.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday that the decision to restart some sectors was taken after consulting a committee of experts. Any further winding down would depend on gains made against the virus, he added.

"We are still far from victory, from the moment when we can pick up our normal lives again, but we have made the first decisive steps in the path towards victory," Mr Sanchez said.

However, some regional leaders criticised the moves, fearing a resurgence of the outbreak. In Catalonia, Spain's second-worst hit region, the government warned that the resumption of some work could lead to a rise in infections and wipe out the gains of the lockdown.

The regional government issued recommendations, including taking employees' temperatures before they enter the workplace and controls at metro stations to guarantee a one-third occupancy rate.

Elsewhere in Europe, deaths in Italy from the pandemic rose over the weekend to 19,468 and the number of new infections climbed to 4,694 from a previous 3,951. It was the highest daily death toll since April 6. Fatalities stood at 19,899 yesterday.

After easing from peaks around the end of last month, Italy's daily death and infection tallies have declined but are not falling as steeply as was hoped by Italians who have been in lockdown for a month.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who has extended the country's lockdown until May 3, is seeking a tentative restart to commercial and public life after that.

Nor was there any indication that Britain would lift restrictions anytime soon as the death toll passed 10,000. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was recuperating yesterday at his countryside retreat and remained off work after several days in hospital with a serious case of the coronavirus.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron was yesterday expected to warn in a televised address to the nation that its lockdown must go on for several more weeks at least, while also outlining how the country will recover from the crisis.

His speech comes after the first indications that the lockdown is starting to have an effect, with the outbreak starting to plateau.

France on Sunday reported a lower number of Covid-19 fatalities over 24 hours, with 315 deaths in hospital over the last day, compared with 345 the previous day.

Its total toll from the coronavirus now stands at 14,412.

But officials have warned that the situation remains serious with no rapid return to normalcy in sight.

Meanwhile, public life in Germany may gradually return to normal if certain conditions are met, including an infection rate stabilising at a low level, according to recommendations sent to Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors yesterday.

The suggestions, by the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, will play a prominent role in discussions this week over a possible loosening in movement and social distancing rules which have been in place since around mid-March.

The advice comes as the daily figure for new infections in Germany slowed to 2,402 yesterday. Dr Merkel will discuss the recommendations with her Cabinet today.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE