AFP :
Children in China’s two most important cities went back to school Monday after more than three months at home, as coronavirus restrictions eased and governments around the world began charting a path out of the pandemic lockdown.
Europe’s four worst-affected countries all reported marked drops in their daily death tolls, offering hope that the outbreak may have peaked in some places-at least for now.
But leaders and experts remain divided on how quickly to revive shuttered economies while maintaining a delicate balance between freedom and safety.
Italy and New York laid out partial reopening plans, with France and Spain to follow suit this week, while tens of thousands of final-year students returned to school in Shanghai and Beijing after months of closures.
“I’m glad, it’s been too long since I’ve seen my
classmates,” 18-year-old Hang Huan said in Shanghai. “I’ve missed them a lot.”
Students in Beijing must have their temperatures checked at school gates and show “green” health codes on an app that calculates a person’s infection risk, according to the education ministry.
Virus numbers in China-where the disease first emerged late last year-have dwindled as the country begins to cautiously lift control measures, although fears remain of a potential resurgence and cases imported from abroad.
Primary schools in Norway also reopened on Monday, along with some businesses in Switzerland, such as hairdressers and florists, while New Zealand prepared to begin its phased exit from lockdown in the evening.
“There is no widespread, undetected community transmission in New Zealand,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared.
“We have won that battle.”
In an Oslo suburb, Karine Rabbe brought her seven-year-old daughter Tilde to school in the rain after six weeks of online teaching.
