(AP) Plastic spacing barriers and millions of masks appeared on the streets of Europe’s newly reopened cities Monday, as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school and Spain let people eat outdoors.
All faced the delicate balance of trying to restart battered economies without causing a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Fears of infection spikes in countries that eased their restrictions have been borne out over the past few days in Germany, where new clusters were linked to three slaughterhouses; in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus started; and in South Korea, where one nightclub customer was linked to 85 new cases.