Kids in Spain relish outdoor hour as virus lockdowns ease

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Shrieks of joy rang out in the streets of Spain as children were allowed to go outside and play Sunday for first time in six weeks, while people in Italy and France were eager to hear their leaders' plans for easing some of the world's strictest coronavirus lockdowns.

“This is wonderful! I can’t believe it has been six weeks,” Susana Sabaté, a mother of 3-year-old twin boys, said in Barcelona. “My boys are very active. Today when they saw the front door and we gave them their scooters, they were thrilled.”

Wary of igniting new infection flare-ups, nations have been taking divergent paths on how and when to reopen their economies after weeks at a standstill.

The official death toll from the virus topped 200,000 worldwide, with 2.9 million confirmed infections, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Those figures understate the enormity of the crisis, because of limited testing, differences in counting the dead and some governments' efforts to underplay their outbreaks.

Two weeks after being released from a London hospital, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson — the only major world leader so far to fall ill with COVID-19 — will return to work on Monday.

Spain, Italy and France, which have Europe's highest death tolls from the virus, all imposed tough lockdown rules in March. All have reported significant progress in bringing down infection rates and are ready — warily — to start giving citizens more freedom.

“Maximum caution will be our guideline for the rollback,” Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez said as he announced that Spaniards will be allowed to leave their homes for short walks and exercise starting May 2. “We must be very prudent, because there is no manual, no road map, to follow.”

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