These European Countries Are Slowly Lifting Coronavirus Lockdowns. Here ’s What That Looks Like

From the reopening of garden centers in Austria to children returning to school in Germany, many European countries are cautiously planning their first steps out of national lockdowns. Countries across Europe have been badly hit by the COVID-19 crisis. At least 2,090,110 people have been infected and 139,469 have died. As the virus spread, many governments in Europe placed their citizens under lockdowns throughout March, closing down businesses and schools, and forcing people to stay at home. Countries worldwide have been forced to take similar measures, effectively slamming the brakes on the global economy — the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects it to contract by -3% in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, a significantly worse contraction than during the financial crisis in 2008-9. Now, as the surge in cases across Europe begins to subside, many countries there are slowly lifting restrictions in the hope of reviving their national economies. But health experts cautioned life will not return to normal just yet. “There is no fast way back to normal,” said Hans Kluge, the director for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) European region, at a press conference on April 16. “It is imperative that we do not let down our guard.” The WHO recommends that any country lifting restrictions meet six conditions: COVID-19 transmission must be under control; health systems need to have the capacity to detect, test, trace, and isolate cases; outb...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Explainer Londontime Source Type: news