Covid-19 restrictions gradually eased in Italy, Belgium, France

ITALY

Italy began a gradual return from lockdown with the partial reopening of bars, restaurants and cinemas and theaters, although a 10 pm curfew will remain in place, EFE reports.

The hospitality sector, which has only been allowed to serve customers for takeaway or delivery services for the past few months, can now welcome people on outdoor terraces right up until the curfew.

Cultural venues, on the other hand, which were first closed in March last year and only briefly reopened last summer, face a tougher return to normality.

Only around 10 percent of cinemas will be able to reopen this week, and while the country’s largest theaters, like the Rome Opera, have had time to line up shows, smaller ones have had to delay their own reopening and feel «abandoned» by the authorities.

«Whoever manages culture in Italy does not know how this works,» said the director of the Altrove Theatre Studio in Rome, Ottavia Bianchi, who pointed out that theaters normally would need four or five months to prepare shows instead of the mere two weeks warning they were given earlier this month.

BELGIUM

Health authorities in Belgium continue to ease coronavirus restrictions, with non-essential businesses allowed to reopen without appointments on Monday, while up to 10 people can now meet outdoors.

From Monday onwards, Belgians can go shopping with one other person from the same household, while hairdressers, beauty salons and other similar contact professions will reopen, but with reinforced sanitary conditions.

This is the second phase of a de-escalation that began a week ago, when a ban on non-essential travel abroad was lifted for the first time since the end of January.

Restrictions on entering Belgium remain in place, however, with passengers from at risk zones requiring a PCR test on arrival as well as remaining in quarantine for seven days.

For the past week, primary and lower secondary school students have been attending face-to-face classes, after having been absent for more than three weeks, while those at higher levels have 50% of their classes via videoconference. The percentage of face-to-face classes is 20% in universities.

FRANCE

After a week of remote learning and two weeks of Easter vacation, French kindergartens and primary schools welcomed pupils on Monday with a reinforced security system to minimize the chances of contagion.

«School allows us to fight against social inequalities. That's why our children must be able to continue going, with a strict protocol. Good return (to school) to all!» the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said in a message on Twitter.

High school students will return in person on May 3, the second stage of a gradual easing of measure, the same day that a ban on moving beyond a distance of 10 kilometers from home will end.

Starting from Monday, nursery and primary schools, where some 6.6 million children study, are expected to receive 400,000 saliva tests each week, with the aim of reaching 600,000 by the end of May.

The detection of a positive case of coronavirus will lead to the closure of the classroom, and a distance of two meters will have to be respected in the school canteen.

Another stage of the de-escalation envisages the reopening of non-essential businesses, cultural venues and the terraces of bars and restaurants from mid-May, although the government has not set a date, preferring to see how the health situation evolves.