Some countries and US states move to ease virus lockdowns

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Some countries and U.S. states are starting to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions and focus on fixing their battered economies.

In Spain, the streets echoed again with joyful cries on Sunday as the nation let children go outside for the first time in six weeks. Many European countries are reopening factories and construction sites. In New Zealand, people will be able to buy takeout restaurant food again starting midnight Monday.

But some worry that prematurely lifting measures that were imposed to halt the spread of the coronavirus could spark a resurgence in infections.

In the U.S., governors in states including hard-hit New York and Michigan are keeping stay-at-home restrictions in place until at least mid-May, while their counterparts in places such as Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska are allowing certain businesses to reopen.

White House strategists are planning to shift President Donald Trump’s public focus from the pandemic toward fixing the economy. This comes after he was sharply criticized in recent days for publicly musing that scientists should explore injecting toxic disinfectants as a potential virus cure.

In China, state-run media said that hospitals in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the pandemic, no longer have any COVID-19 patients. And in Japan, the central bank eased monetary policy, prompting a surge in the stock market.

The official death toll from the virus topped 205,000 worldwide, with nearly 3 million confirmed infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, though the real figures are believed to be much higher, in part because of inadequate testing and differences in counting the dead.

Italy, Britain, Spain and France accounted for more than 20,000 deaths each. In the U.S., the death toll...