Italy, France and Spain continued to grapple with some of the world’s worst coronavirus outbreaks as discussions in Germany and within the European Union focused on how to mitigate the economic fallout.
Italy and France both reported the most new cases in four days, complicating efforts to gradually ease containment measures. In Spain, where the daily case count was mostly steady, lawmakers extended a state of emergency to May 9. The three countries together had more than 10,000 new cases on Wednesday, bringing their combined total to almost 600,000. They’re preparing to cautiously lift restrictions starting next month, following the examples of nations including Denmark and Austria.
"We’re in a preparation phase for the second stage — I’m not talking about going back to normal life — we don’t know how long it will last,” French President Emmanuel Macron said on a visit to a supermarket in western France to thank staff who have continued to work amid the lockdown.