Nations struggle to define ‘new normal’ as lockdown restrictions ease

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Anxiety is rising about the impact of the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;new normal” on people’s daily lives and businesses as countries around the world cautiously emerge from coronavirus lockdowns&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Schools&comma; public transport&comma; bars and restaurants are shaping up as the front lines as nations move out of lockdown but retain social distancing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>How each of those key sectors manages social distancing and reduces expected new outbreaks will determine the shape of daily life for millions as researchers race to develop a vaccine that is still likely months&comma; if not years&comma; away from being available to all&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>What a return to normal looks like varies widely&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For hungry migrant workers in India&comma; it was finally being able to catch trains back to their home villages to farm while city jobs dried up&period; For cruise ship workers stranded at sea for months&comma; it was finally reaching shore in Croatia&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For wealthy shoppers in a Maserati or Rolls-Royce&comma; it was returning to the newly reopened boutiques of America’s famous Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads1--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In Italy&comma; where good food is an essential part of life itself&comma; once-packed restaurants and cafes are facing a huge financial hit as they reopen with strict social distancing rules&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We have to turn upside down all the activity that we did before&comma;”<&sol;i> lamented chef Raffaele di Cristo&comma; who now must wear a mask and latex gloves as he prepares food at the popular Corsi Trattoria in Rome&period; <i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Everything is changed&period; Slowly&comma; slowly&comma; we will try to understand and to adapt to this coronavirus&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Corsi reopened for business on Monday with half its tables removed to ensure the mandated one metre spacing between tables and customers&period; Hand sanitising gel was placed at the entrance and a new ordering system was installed so customers can read the menu on their phones instead of handling a shared plastic copy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Slovakia reopened theatres&comma; cinemas and shopping centres on Wednesday&comma; all with new restrictions on visitor numbers&comma; even though it has had only 28 deaths from Covid-19&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The head of the Dutch hospitality industry welcomed a decision to allow bars and restaurants to reopen on June 1&comma; but warned about the impact of mandatory social distancing conditions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The restrictions are unfortunately unworkable”<&sol;i> for many businesses&comma; said Rober Willemsen of Royal Hospitality Netherlands&comma; adding that more government support is needed to ensure the survival of many bars and restaurants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Education is also facing a radical rethink&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cambridge became the first university in Britain to cancel all face-to-face lectures for the upcoming school year&comma; saying they will be held virtually and streamed online until summer 2021&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other institutions have taken different approaches&colon; the California State University system has announced that most classes will be online for the autumn&period; Notre Dame University will bring students back to campus but redesigned its calendar to start the term early in August and end before Thanksgiving&comma; along with ordering masks&comma; testing and contact tracing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In South Korea&comma; hundreds of thousands of high school seniors had their temperatures checked and used hand sanitisers as they returned to school on Wednesday&comma; many for the first time since late last year after their new term was repeatedly pushed back&period; Students and teachers were required to wear masks and some schools installed plastic partitions around desks&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More than 60 schools near Seoul quickly sent their students home as a precaution after two students who had not even attended class were found to be infected&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>France is limiting spaces in primary schools&comma; giving priority to the children of essential workers and those in need&period; Some younger students even go on alternating days&comma; while high schools remain closed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the new normal&comma; people’s gratitude at being able to shop or eat out again is mingling with worries about job security&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Business was slow at a Paris farmers’ market with a mixed mood among the masked&comma; gloved vendors&period; A man selling peonies and petunias said he was glad to get out and see shoppers again&comma; while a woman selling asparagus and tomatoes behind a makeshift plastic screen grumbled that her customers were buying less than usual&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Fears about job security are not unwarranted&period; Airline engine maker Rolls-Royce announced plans to cut 9&comma;000 workers as it grapples with the collapse in air travel due to the pandemic&period; In general&comma; those jobs come with good pay and benefits&comma; and losing them is a sharp blow to local communities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some businesses are quickly adapting to new realities&period; In Kenya&comma; safari operators have resorted to sharing live broadcasts on social media in the hope that attention to endangered and other species does not fade&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Many governments&comma; including many US states&comma; are in fierce disagreement over what the new normal should even be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads2--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez asked politicians to endorse a plan to extend the nation’s state of emergency by another two weeks until June 7&comma; even as beaches reopened in Barcelona&period; Spain’s main opposition&comma; the conservative Popular Party&comma; said it will vote No&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;You are like a headless chicken running around not knowing what to do&comma;” <&sol;i>Popular Party leader Pablo Casado told Mr Sanchez&period; <i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;To endorse your extension would be irresponsible&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While infection rates have been falling in Asia and much of Europe&comma; the pandemic is still spiking in Latin America&period; Brazil this week became the world’s third worst-hit country with more than 250&comma;000 confirmed cases despite limited testing&period; In Lima&comma; the capital of Peru&comma; coronavirus patients are filling up the city’s intensive care beds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We’re in bad shape&comma;” said Pilar Mazzetti&comma; head of the Peruvian government’s Covid-19 task force&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This is war&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;--Ads3--><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the pandemic could push millions into extreme poverty in Africa&comma; where the virus has reached every country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>More than 4&period;9 million people worldwide have been confirmed infected with the virus&comma; and over 323&comma;000 deaths have been recorded&comma; according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University that experts believe is too low for reasons that differ country by country&period; The United States has seen nearly 92&comma;000 deaths and Europe has had nearly 165&comma;000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Russia and Brazil are now behind only the United States in the number of reported infections&comma; and cases are also spiking in India&comma; South Africa and Mexico&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Russia announced that its coronavirus caseload has surpassed 300&comma;000&comma; with the death toll almost reaching 3&comma;000&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed2f6d48290">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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