Spain and Austria allowed partial returns to work on Tuesday but Britain and France extended lockdowns to try to rein in a pandemic which the World Health Organisation warned had not yet peaked.
Nearly 2 million people globally have been infected and more than 1,20,000 have died in the most serious pandemic in a century. The epicentre has moved from China, where the virus first emerged in December, to the U.S., which now has the highest death toll at 23,568.
Balancing act
World leaders, in considering easing curbs, have to balance risks to health and the economy, as the lockdowns strangle supply lines and bring economic activity to a virtual halt.
The world economy is expected to shrink by 3% this year, the International Monetary Fund said, marking the steepest downturn since the Great Depression.
The World Health Organization said the number of new cases was easing in some parts of Europe, including Italy and Spain, but outbreaks were growing in Britain and Turkey.
“The overall world outbreak, 90% of cases are coming from Europe and the United States of America. So we are certainly not seeing the peak yet,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a briefing in Geneva.
But world stocks gained