Apr 6, 2020 - World

Austria plans to begin loosening its coronavirus lockdown

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Photo: Askin Kiyagan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Monday that his country plans to take steps to begin lifting its coronavirus lockdown next week, Reuters reports.

The state of play: Kurz said the country would begin reopening non-essential shops of less than 400 square meters on April 14, followed by all shops and malls on May 1.

Schools will stay closed until mid-May with public events banned until June, notes MarketWatch.
Kurz also said that the government "always has the possibility to hit the emergency brake" should the rate of infections spike as restrictions wind down.

The big picture: Austria has more than 12,000 cases and at least 220 deaths from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. At least 3,463 people have recovered from the disease.

The country, which borders Italy, was one of the first in Europe to institute a wide national lockdown on March 16. Kurz's government has also taken steps like making the use of face masks in stores mandatory, per the BBC.

Go deeper: Irish prime minister returns to medicine to help with coronavirus crisis

Go deeper

Axios

Updated 2 hours ago - Health

U.S. coronavirus updates

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios. This graphic includes "probable deaths" that New York City began reporting on April 14.

Infectious disease experts doubt that the coronavirus will slow its spread during the summer, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins wrote in a Tuesday blog post.

By the numbers: More than 105,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus and over 1.8 million people have tested positive, per data from Johns Hopkins. More than 458,000 Americans have recovered and over 17.3 million tests have been conducted.

Go deeper (2 min. read)

Sam Baker

Jun 1, 2020 - Health

Lessons from the lockdown — and what comes next

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

We are nowhere near finished with the coronavirus, but the next phases of our response will — if we do it right — be more targeted and risk-based than the sweeping national lockdown we’re now emerging from.

Why it matters: Our experience battling this new virus has taught us a lot about what does and doesn’t work. We’ll have to apply those lessons rigorously, and keep adapting, if we have any hope of containing the virus and limiting the number of deaths from here on out.

Go deeper (3 min. read)

Axios

Jun 1, 2020 - Health

Podcast: The virus didn't go away

There are concerns over a coming surge of coronavirus infections in the coming weeks, as states reopen and thousands protest across the U.S. Dan digs in with Axios' Sam Baker.

Go deeper: Lessons from the lockdown — and what comes next