Germany and other parts of Europe yesterday took tentative steps to ease lockdown measures, but officials warned that the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic was far from over.
Some shops reopened in Germany and parents dropped their children off at nurseries in Norway as restrictions in place for weeks were lifted in parts of the continent.
After being hit hard by the virus, Europe has seen encouraging signs in recent days, with death rates dropping in Italy, Spain, France and the UK.
Photo: AP
The hope is tempered by fears of new waves of infections, warnings that life will not be back to normal for many months and deep concern over the devastating impact the pandemic is having on the global economy.
However, even the smallest return to normality was welcome.
In the German city of Leipzig, fashion store owner Manuela Fischer said she was “incredibly happy” to be welcoming shoppers again.
Photo: Reuters
In Norway, Silje Skifjell dropped off her boys Isaak and Kasper at a nursery in the north of the capital, Oslo.
“He was so excited we had to leave the house early to come here and see the other children,” she said of four-year-old Isaak, her eldest. “I almost cried, he was so happy to see his friends.”
Governments around the world are mulling how and when to ease lockdowns that have kept more than half of humanity confined to their homes.
Photo: Reuters
The virus has so far infected more than 2.3 million people globally and killed about 165,000, with nearly two-thirds of the victims in Europe, according to an Agence France-Presse tally.
Germany, which has been hailed for keeping fatalities low despite a significant number of cases, was allowing smaller shops to reopen in some regions as of yesterday.
Larger shops and those in major German cities are to open later as part of an attempted phased return to a more normal existence that will also see some students go back to school from May 4.
However, officials are keeping a watchful eye, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying yesterday that she is “greatly concerned” that virus-fighting discipline among the German public may ebb.
Spain, where a nationwide lockdown has been extended, also said it would ease some restrictions to allow children time outside.
Yesterday it listed 399 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, its lowest daily count in weeks.
France also said a nationwide lockdown in force for a month was beginning to bear fruit.
In Australia, authorities in Sydney reopened three beaches for walking, running, swimming or surfing, while New Zealand announced that it will ease a nationwide lockdown next week.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
STORM’S PATH: Kong-Rey could be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in November since Gilda in 1967. Taitung-Green Island ferry services have been halted Tropical Storm Kong-rey is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon early today and could make landfall in Taitung County between late Thursday and early Friday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Kong-Rey was 1,030km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the nation’s southernmost point, and was moving west at 7kph. The tropical storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126 kph, CWA data showed. After landing in Taitung, the eye of the storm is forecast to move into the Taiwan Strait through central Taiwan on Friday morning, the agency said. With the storm moving
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work