After weeks of confinement, the reopening of some shops or public places in Austria and Italy and the timid return to work of certain industries in Spain, inject hope into a planet paralyzed by the Coronavirus and fearful of the future recession.

With more than 120.000 dead in the world Since it emerged in December in China, the pandemic, that these days has been vicious with United States, it seems that it begins to remit in Europe, where countries already plan how to gradually get out of isolation for the relief of their citizens.

"I am happy to be able to buy flowers again", confesses under a spring sun Anita Kakac, a 75-year-old retiree in Vienna, the Austrian capital, where the traces of the pandemic are still present with many customers queuing outside the stores, at a distance between them and with masks.

Fatih Altun, at the head of a cell phone repair shop in the popular neighborhood of Favoriten, says he is "afraid of the virus", but is forced to reopen after a month without income. "I lost between 5.000 and 6.000 euros and had to fire my only worker," he says.

Stationers, bookstores and children's products stores were able to reopen this Tuesday in neighboring Italy, el country hardest hit in Europe with more than 20.000 killed by Covid-19, although not all regions decided to apply the measure, For caution.

Despite the quarantine being maintained until May 3, Italy also authorized the resumption of forestry and agricultural activitiesInter alia following in the footsteps of Spain, where part of construction and industrial activities were reactivated on Monday.

This Tuesday, the Iberian nation exceeded 18.000 deaths, But Health authorities consider that the peak of the epidemic was behind. However, the iron confinement will continue until at least April 25.

El May 11 for its part, new date inscribed in red in the calendar of the confined citizens in France, where the sinister balances of victims (almost 15.000 deaths in total) they begin to show a slowdown.

That day will be the "beginning of a new stage", in the words of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, who yesterday also mentioned the progressive reopening of schools from that moment.

Balance between protection and reactivation

Given the start of the progressive lifting of the measures, due to pressure to relaunch the economic machinery, The World Health Organization (WHO) asked not to let down our guard until a "safe and effective vaccine" was obtained in order to prevent further outbreaks.

"The measures must be withdrawn slowly and with control", assured its director of the organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who urged to find a “Balance” between protection of the population and economic reactivation.

The world is preparing for a recession worse than that caused by the 'crash of 29'. Bill The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts a global economic contraction in 2020 of 3% and a “serious risk” of worsening.

El "Great Confinement", which will affect mainly developing countries, will drop 7,5% of the GDP of the Eurozone and 5,9% of that of the United States. Only China and India to save from recession this year,  grow 1,2% and 1,9%, respectively.

En U.S., the country hardest hit by the virus with more than 23.000 deaths, its president, Donald Trump, said Monday that he was determined to reactivate the economy as soon as possible, and estimated that the country was already leaving behind the hardest moment.

La GDP contraction will be sharp also in Latin America and the Caribbean (-5,2%), with blows to Mexico (-6,6%) and Brazil (-5,3%) and a deepening of the recession in Argentina (-5,7%).

"Who are you most afraid of?"

Returning to work, as China did after ending the confinement, seems far away in other parts of the world, as in India, where their 1.300 billion inhabitants will remain in their homes until at least May 3.

En Russia, President Vladimir Putin, who advocated an "extraordinary" plan to deal with the pandemic, acknowledged that the situation "is not going in the best direction", pointing at a “Shortage” of protective equipment for medical personnel.

En Latin America, which stayed away from the virus for weeks, the pandemic has already left some 3.000 dead and more than 69.000 infections, Specially in Brazil (1.328 deaths and 23.430 cases), Ecuador (355 and 7.529) and Mexico (332 and 5.014).

The consequences go beyond healthcare. In Mexico, health personnel face the rejection of the population that sees them as sources of contagion. "I don't know who to be more afraid of: the Covid-19 or the people who may start attacking us," says Ariadna, a 27-year-old nurse.

Worldwide, the virus hits especially the poorest. In Nigeria, named after a poor neighborhood in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil, The place most affected by Coronavirus in the country, Washington Angulo, a community leader, lamented the poverty multiplied by the pandemic.

"The authorities say to the families: stay inside the house, but they don't see further. We had the need before this and right now it is worse ”, he explains.

A greater number of voices rises on their part in Cuba, where there is more than 700 confirmed cases of coronavirus, to call for the end of the US blockade imposed in 1962, by complicating the purchase of medical supplies.

"The blockade is even more cruel and genocidal than it normally is (...) when we are not having an epidemic," denounced Néstor Marimón, director of international relations at the Ministry of Health.