Geneva (AFP)
Reopening of businesses in Switzerland on Monday, return to business of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson: Europeans are refining their plans to get out of containment, which remains a global headache pending the discovery of a vaccine or a cure to curb the coronavirus epidemic.
The pandemic, which has killed more than 200,000 people out of nearly three million infected worldwide, is finally marking time in the four most affected European countries.
They posted indeed Sunday daily death tolls down sharply: 288 deaths in Spain, 260 in Italy, 242 in France and 413 deaths in hospital in the United Kingdom, the lowest number since the end of March.
By far the country most affected by the pandemic, in terms of both number of infections and deaths, the United States meanwhile recorded an additional 1,330 deaths on Sunday evening in the past 24 hours.
-Hairdressers in Switzerland-
The Swiss will be able to return to the hairdresser, with the reopening of certain shops on Monday.
Subject to respecting the barrier measures, it is first of all the hairdressers, physiotherapists, doctors, massage parlors, florists, garden centers, as well as the nurseries which will resume their activities.
The confinement was less harsh there than in Spain. After six weeks locked up at home, the little Spaniards can since Sunday start playing again in the street, with a certain number of restrictions like the absence of contacts.
In London, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, himself struck by the virus, must make a long-awaited return to business on Monday, the British wanting to know his plans to restart the economy and get out of containment.
He is not the only one to be expected on his plan: in Spain, where the confinement has been extended until May 9 inclusive, the government will present on Tuesday its easing plan, envisaged for mid-May.
On the same day, French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will unveil his "national strategy for the deconfinement plan", which is due to start on May 11, with in particular a controversial reopening of schools.
Italy too must detail at the start of the week the measures it plans to start from May 4. However, the schools will remain closed until September.
Italy will set up serological test programs, with a campaign on 150,000 people, even if the World Health Organization (WHO) has showered the hopes of those who bet on a possible immunity of people who have been confronted with coronavirus to facilitate deconfinement, via the issuance of "immune passports".
-Pause of Trump briefings-
In the United States, President Donald Trump did not give his usual coronavirus briefing on Sunday, after the sarcasm caused by his recommendations ("ironic", he said after the fact) on the injection of disinfectant in the body patients.
He simply launched his usual pikes against the press via Twitter, ensuring that the rumors of the dismissal of the Secretary of Health, Alex Azar, were only "fake news".
The media "despair of creating an impression of chaos," he tweeted.
In the United States too, the resumption of activities is being prepared, as in New York State, where certain manufacturing and construction activities could resume after May 15.
To survive, the "food trucks" are already looking for customers where they are confined to telework.
"We like to cook, but we miss the diversity of restaurants in the city, so we have a little madness," says Elise Blake, a 37-year-old music teacher, who went down to get her order at the "Dirty South Deli" (DSD ), who came to park on his street in Brookland, a residential area northeast of the American capital.
For his companion, David Murray, musician, confined since mid-March, going down to the food-truck is also a way of "helping small businesses" to overcome the crisis.
A return to a certain normality that is not to everyone's taste: in Peru, President Martin Vizcarra took offense on Sunday from queues of consumers who did not respect safe distances to buy ... beer.
"It looked like it was a holiday Saturday," he said, commenting on a video circulating on social media. "We are not yet really aware of the magnitude of the problem," he added. In Peru, which counted 728 dead Sunday, the confinement must last until May 10, with night curfew and border closure.
And in Brazil, chief Raoni, an emblematic figure in the fight against deforestation in the Amazon, launched a call for donations on Sunday to help indigenous populations, who are particularly vulnerable to imported viruses like Covid-19.
- Ramadan in confinement -
The Muslim world, meanwhile, entered its fourth day of Ramadan fast on Monday without collective prayers or shared meals: the doors of mosques remain closed and family gatherings are prohibited.
But the fear remains that violations of the measures taken will encourage a new boom in the pandemic, especially in Pakistan, where worshipers have rushed to mosques despite health recommendations.
Saudi Arabia, for its part, partially eased its total curfew on Sunday. With the exception of the holy city of Mecca.
In Lebanon, demonstrators defied the curfew put in place against the pandemic and cut late Sunday evening roads across the country to denounce the deteriorating economic situation.
© 2020 AFP