France and Italy to ease lockdown as Spain finally allows children outside
The French government is preparing to unveil detailed plans on Tuesday for lifting the coronavirus lockdown amid parents’ objections to reopening schools and opposition from rail unions to easing travel restrictions.
President Emmanuel Macron has said France will start loosening restrictions on May 11. Businesses frequented by the public such as restaurants, cafés, bars, cinemas and theatres will remain closed, but schools will reopen, which has alarmed many parents and some teachers. The country reported a big fall in its coronavirus toll on Sunday, with 242 deaths in 24 hours, a drop of more than a third on the previous day.
Italy, the first European country to be hit hard by Covid-19 and the first to impose a lockdown, will allow some businesses to reopen this week but schools will remain closed until September.
Giuseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister, said on Sunday that factories, construction sites and public parks will re-open from May 4. People will also be able to visit relatives if they live in the same region and small, open-air funerals will be allowed. If all goes well, retail shops will be able to reopen later in May, and restaurants, cafes and barber shops on June 1, he said.
Conte said his government’s detailed roadmap for a gradual, phased exit from lockdown would be released within days.
“We can’t prolong this lockdown any longer,” Mr Conte told La Repubblica newspaper. “We would risk seriously undermining the socio-economic fabric of the country.”
In Spain, which had one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns, children under 14 were allowed out for walks with their parents on Sunday for the first time since mid-March. Adults will be able to exercise outdoors from next weekend. But Pedro Sánchez, the prime minister, warned that other restrictions would only start to be lifted from May 9.
Lockdowns have been seen as a blunt but effective tool to stem infections. Fatality rates are now falling in France, Italy and Spain.
In France, which has been in lockdown since March 11, some head teachers said they may refuse to reopen their schools. A number of parents told French media they will not send their children back to school.
Mr Macron disregarded his scientific advisors’ recommendation to keep schools closed until September, it emerged on Sunday. A memo by the government-appointed Scientific Council published on the Health Ministry website during the weekend described the move as “a political decision”.
It said: “The risk of transmission [of Covid-19] is high in places where masses of people gather such as schools and universities, with barrier measures particularly difficult to implement among the youngest.”
As part of precautions, desks are to be separated by at least a metre and pupils and teachers required to wear face-masks. Instead of having lunch in school canteens, pupils are to eat at their desks.
French rail unions also said it will be impossible to observe social distancing in crowded trains and station platforms. Travellers will probably be required to wear face masks and trains are to be disinfected after each trip, but the precautions have done little to appease unions representing France’s 140,000 rail workers.
“Nothing is ready, it’s premature to reduce travel restrictions,” said Didier Mathis of the Unsa union. France’s high-speed trains are to resume a 50 per cent service.
The main conservative opposition party, The Republicans, demanded a postponement of a National Assembly vote on the lockdown exit plans immediately after they are presented. Damien Abad, leader of the Republican group in the assembly, said: “We can’t vote blindfolded like that on Tuesday. We’re asking for 24 or 48 hours to consider and discuss the plans.”
But they appear certain to pass, given the large majority of Mr Macron’s party. There are signs that Paris is already beginning to come back to life, with more fast food outlets open, construction sites operating and more traffic on the roads.
