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LurkerJ on 28 April 2020
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France and Spain to ease coronavirus lockdowns

Edouard Philippe, prime minister of France, said the move was necessary in order to avert the risk of economic “collapse”.

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Businesses in France could reopen from May 11, except cafés, restaurants and large meeting places such as big museums and cinemas, although teleworking should be continued wherever possible for at least the first three weeks, he said. Local public transport will be largely restored, with the Paris metro and buses set to run at 70 per cent of normal capacity, although the plan is to avoid rush-hour crowding by encouraging companies to stagger working hours.

Passengers will be required to wear face masks. Long-distance travel will remain restricted to those on urgent professional or family business. Schools will reopen progressively, starting with nursery and primary schools and with attendance depending on agreement from parents, and class sizes will be limited to 15.

However, the ending of the lockdown would vary from place to place, Mr Philippe said. Departments would be labelled “red” or “green” on May 7 for the proposed easing of restrictions four days later depending on the local number of new cases as well as on the capacity for testing and receiving patients in hospital. Mr Philippe said beaches would remain closed until June 1 and that the 2019-20 professional football season would not resume. “We must protect the French without immobilising the country to the point where it collapses,” he told the National Assembly in Paris.

France has struggled to provide enough masks for its health workers and for the general population, a problem the prime minister admitted had aroused “incomprehension and anger” among the French. But the prime minister said the government was now procuring 100m surgical masks a week for health workers, and promised that there would be enough basic, washable masks for the general population by May 11.