国际英语资讯:European nations ease lockdowns with caution_时事

国际英语资讯:European nations ease lockdowns with caution

School operations will also gradually resume from May 4, while restaurants, coffee houses and worship services are due to reopen from May 15, said Kurz.

In Italy, one of the hardest-hit countries in the continent, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that his country might gradually reopen its economy from the strict terms of its six-week-long national coronavirus lockdown starting from May 4.

Conte said the specific rules to be in place after May 4 would be announced later this week.

"We must act on the basis of a national plan, which will take into account the specifics of our territory," Conte said via social media. The prime minister allowed a handful of business sectors to reopen, including stores selling products for babies, bookstores, and dry cleaners, a week ago.

Italy saw fewer ICU and hospitalized patients as COVID-19 death toll has climbed to 24,648 as of Tuesday.

In Spain, the other European country hit hard by the coronavirus which has registered 21,282 deaths as of Tuesday, the cabinet had approved Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's request to extend the current "state of alarm" for a further 15 days, up to May 9, according to the government spokesperson Maria Jesus Montero.

The proposal will be debated in Parliament on Wednesday and one of the new conditions of the extended "state of alarm" will allow children under age 14 to go outside for short periods of time after April 27.