India to extend lockdown against coronavirus, while Spain eases work rules

India appears set to extend a 21-day lockdown for all 1.3 billion citizens for two more weeks, carrying it to the end of April.

During a meeting with top officials, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the lockdown had helped blunt the outbreak but that “constant vigilance is paramount,” according to a statement from his office.

It was the third such interaction of the PM with the Chief Ministers (the earlier ones had been held on April 2 and March 20, 2020).

Modi observed that the combined effort of the Centre and the States has "definitely helped" reduce the impact of COVID-19. "But since the situation is rapidly evolving, constant vigilance is paramount. He emphasized the criticality of coming 3-4 weeks for determining the impact of the steps taken till now to contain the virus, adding that teamwork is the key to facing the challenge," the statement added.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic continued its global assault on Saturday, with more than 1.7 million known cases recorded worldwide and at least 107,000 deaths.

But even as some countries join the list of those with broad lockdown orders and others maintain or extend sweeping shutdowns, others have begun eyeing the benefits of reopening at least some parts of society.

Iran begins reopening

In Iran, the hardest-hit country so far in its region, some government offices and shops, factories and other businesses began reopening on Saturday as the national lockdown is lifted in phases. President Hassan Rouhani had said last week that economic and government activity must continue. On Saturday, he said that people should still observe social distancing.

Some of the most grievously hit countries in Europe, while still recording hundreds of new deaths every day, say that the worst appears to be past. Their plans to ease some restrictions, they caution, will not bring normalcy, but instead a new phase of learning how to safely live with the pandemic.

The lifting of restrictions came despite warnings from the country’s health ministry that the reopening could cause a new spike in cases and tens of thousands of additional deaths.

Europe

Some of the most grievously hit countries in Europe, while still recording hundreds of new deaths every day, say that the worst appears to be past. Their plans to ease some restrictions, they caution, will not bring normalcy, but instead a new phase of learning how to safely live with the pandemic.

Spain, with the world’s highest caseload after the United States, is preparing to allow some nonessential employees to return to work on Monday. The country has reported a falling death rate and a daily growth in new cases of about 3 percent, compared with 20 percent in mid-March.

But officials stressed the limits of that easing. “Spain continues in a state of lockdown,” Health Minister Salvador Illa warned on Friday. “We are not yet in a de-escalation phase.”

Here are other developments in the pandemic around the world:

Italy, which follows Spain in cases but has the highest death toll after the United States, will allow some bookstores, children’s clothing shops and some forestry-related occupations to resume operations after the current restrictions expire on Tuesday.

Austria plans to reopen smaller shops after this weekend. The Czech Republic is opening small stores, and people can play tennis and go swimming. Denmark may reopen kindergartens and schools starting next week, Norway will allow pupils to attend kindergarten.

And China has ended its lockdown of Wuhan, where the coronavirus first emerged.

For many countries, the question of whether to ease restrictions does not have a clear answer yet. In the United States, President Trump — and governors of each state — are balancing calls from medical experts to keep restrictions in place with pleas from bankers, corporate executives and industrialists to ease them.

Some countries put in place new measures. Turkey on Friday ordered a two-day curfew for 31 provinces. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has ordered air traffic to the country halted after more than 70 people who arrived from Newark, N.J., on Saturday morning left Ben Gurion Airport without official verifications of their mandatory quarantine plans and checks of their temperatures.

Chile will start handing out certificates to people who have recovered that will exempt them from quarantines and other restrictions.

The World Health Organization said that it was looking into reports of some recovering Covid-19 patients testing positive again after testing negative, a day after South Korean officials said that 91 previously cleared patients had tested positive again. Jeong Eun-kyeong, the director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a briefing that the virus might have been “reactivated” rather than the patients being reinfected.