Italy easing begins, WHO opposes immunity passports: COVID-19 bulletin

TOP HEADLINES

• For the first time since 14 March, children under the age of 14 in Spain are able to leave their homes . The government announced these children will be allowed one hour of supervised outdoor activity per day between 9am and 9pm, while staying within a kilometer of their home.

• **Italy is set to reopen its manufacturing industry on 4 May, according to prime minister Giuseppe Conte. He also added that schools **would not reopen before September.

• The World Health Organization has warned against the use of 'immunity passports ' for recovered patients.

• French prime minister Edouard Philippe will announce on Tuesday a national strategy on how the country plans to emerge from its lockdown.

• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will return to work on Monday and "is raring to go" according to a Downing Street spokesman.

• Face masks will be made mandatory in all 16 German states on Monday , with fines of up to $162 for transgression.

• Serbia has sent a donation of masks, gloves and other medical supplies to Italy to help with their fightagainstCOVID-19.

• Finland's prime minister Sanna Marin has** tested negative** for the virus and will return to work on Monday. Marin wasquarantined on Thursday as a precautionary measure, pending the test result.

• Russia has reported 5,966 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours , a slight increase from the 5,849 the previous day**.**

Spain's children are allowed out for one hour a day starting from Sunday, but the Spanish police will be making sure regulations are enforced. /AP

ACROSS EUROPE

By Natalie Carney in Munich

Public protests against government imposed COVID-19 restrictions are becoming more common.

Saturday was the fourth consecutive week people in the German capital Berlin took to the streets shouting "I want my life back" and holding signs with slogans such as "Protect constitutional rights."

More than 100 people were arrested for violating a regulation forbidding gatherings of more than 20 people.

On Monday, masks will be mandatory in all 16 federal states across Germany with fines up to $162 in Bavaria, where the state's health minister Melanie Huml has warned that "everyone has to understand that for many people it can be a matter of life and death."

On Saturday the country registered an increase of 2,055 confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total in Germany to 152,438, according to statistics from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.

Italy

Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte has outlined further plans to ease the lockdown across the country in the coming weeks and months.

Speaking on Sunday, Conte said many businesses could reopen as early as next week as the country emerges from a near-total lockdown. He did add that schools will only reopen in September, however.

Meanwhile, Serbia has sent thousands of face masks and other protective equipment to Italy to help Europe's worst-affected country fight COVID-19.

As of Sunday morning Italy's death toll stands at 26,384 – but with infection rates gradually declining, the government can start to arrange the easing of Europe's longest lockdown.

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By Nawied Jabarkhyl in London

Sunday was supposed to be the London Marathon, but hundreds of potential racers will be doing a 2.6-mile challenge instead.

Stand-in prime minister Dominic Raab has appeared on the Sunday news shows promising more testing for people in the UK, and the government is now relying on the armed forces to help deliver that.

New mobile testing units will be rolled out across 96 facilities in the UK. In the meantime, the death toll from COVID-19 keeps on rising, with more than 20,000 people now having died from the disease.

By Rahul Pathak in Madrid

Sunday in Spain marks the day children under the age of 14 are allowed outside to do something other than accompany their parents to the shops.

The government has eased restrictions to allow kids to go outside for an hour.

Until now children have been confined to their homes for the 43 days of lockdown, and with two thirds of them living in apartments, this has put an intense strain on young families.

The Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez has also hinted at easing the overall restrictions on public movements.

People could be allowed to go out for exercise from 2 May if the rate of new infections continues to go down.

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