The essential
Find our follow-up of Monday April 4
■ Greece reopens its stores despite worrying figures
Athens allows most stores to reopen on Monday, despite still worrying figures for the Covid-19 epidemic. Explaining that it was necessary to allow the inhabitants to “decompress”, the government also hopes to revive a little the economy which suffers greatly from the reduction in tourism.
However, people wishing to visit the stores will have to make an appointment, and the number of people who can be in a store at the same time is limited, up to 20 people for the most important.
Virulent infection
However, this measure does not apply to department stores and shopping centers. And it does not apply to the two largest cities in the country after Athens, Thessaloniki and Patras, where the infection is particularly virulent.
Greece has recorded since the start of the epidemic 275,000 cases of coronavirus, which have caused 8,300 deaths, including nearly 150 for this weekend alone.
A firm supporter of the vaccine passport, Greece hopes to revive tourism from mid-May, which usually represents a large part of its income. In addition, the country plans to spend 11.6 billion euros this year to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, after 24 billion last year.
■ London opens for international travel
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveils new rules for international travel and a controversial health passport project on Monday to accompany a very gradual return of the UK to normalcy after long months of restrictions.
The conservative leader intends to maintain a cautious approach, for fear of compromising the success of a massive anti-Covid vaccination campaign on which the most bereaved country in Europe, with nearly 127,000 dead, is basing all its hopes.
For Britons who have long been forced to stay at home and very keen to go on holiday abroad this summer, which is prohibited until May 17 at the earliest, he will present a traffic light system to classify countries according to the degree of advancement. their vaccination, their contamination rate or the presence of worrying variants.
31.5 million first doses
This is not to jeopardize the campaign which has already fully immunized around 5.4 million people and delivered more than 31.5 million first doses in the UK, almost half of the total population, since early December.
Downing Street, however, said it was still premature to compile a list of countries, and continues to advise against bookings abroad.
To keep the virus under control, the government is also planning to test a health passport system for mass gatherings in England, such as football matches and indoor events.
Health passport deemed “discriminatory”
This certificate would indicate that a person has been vaccinated, is negative for the coronavirus or has antibodies. It will not be required in public transport and essential shops, the reopening of which is scheduled for April 12 at the same time as the terraces of pubs.
But this health passport project is also cringe, and it was greeted with hostility by more than 70 British deputies from all over the political spectrum, who deemed it “discriminatory” – enough to potentially fail in the event of a vote. in Parliament.
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