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AFP
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A vending machine for masks in a Berlin U-Bahn (underground) station
Across the world, countries are embarking on enormous experiments in ending coronavirus lockdown measures – and others are looking on nervously, asking themselves what’s the best way back to normality.
There’s no international consensus over how best to do it – but we’ve looked at the key trends that are emerging, and some of the innovative thinking leading the way.
Easy does it – but only if it works
The big trend around the world is to ease of lockdown gradually. Many will be closely watching what happens in hard-hit Italy. Rome has set out a phased approach about how everything from shops to museums may be able to open with the most significant opening up yet due on 4 May.
All Italians – particularly those in the areas with highest infection rates – know they won’t see anything approaching normal life before September.
Dr Michael Tildesley, an expert in infectious diseases at Warwick University, says the world just doesn’t know what will happen to the rate of coronavirus transmission as lockdowns ease.
“It’s really difficult to untangle the relative effectiveness of all the lockdown measures to work out what effect each of them has,” he told BBC Radio Four’s The Briefing Room.
“It may be that the only way we can do that – and get a real understanding – is when we start to relax them. We may have to lift a certain measure and monitor what that does to the epidemic.”
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CATHERINE LAI
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Singapore app: Low take-up which other countries hope to improve on
Technology to track, trace and test
The second more important step appears to be the roll-out of smartphone apps to track infections. More and more nations – or at least those that can afford it – are designing apps for their population.
Some – such as Australia’s operational app, and proposed solutions in Italy, France and the UK – will see phones gather anonymised records of other phones the user has been close to. If someone develops symptoms, each phone in that log of potential contacts will receive an alert.
In Israel, the government went straight to one of its secret services and asked it to track phones to, in turn, track likely transmissions.
South Korea used phones from the outset, using them to contact anyone who was near to someone who tested positive. The government there relied on this aggressive strategy of testing and alerting to avoid a complete lockdown.
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Thermal cameras: First used in Hong Kong during the 2003 Sars outbreak
Watch for the temperature
Thermal cameras could soon have a crucial role, particular in transport hubs. During the 2003 Sars outbreak, anyone who travelled through Hong Kong airport had to stand in a queue while an official pointed a heat gun at their head to discover if they had the tell-tale temperature of a fever.
A smarter, modern thermal camera is now being tested at Bournemouth Airport in the UK to see how quickly it could spot potential coronavirus carriers.
Find out more
Listen to The Briefing Room – available now on BBC Sounds.
Experts explain how lockdowns could be lifted around the world – and why we don’t know what will happen next.
Virtual personal exclusion zones
Some nations looked at wristbands to enforce lockdown – but the Belgian port of Antwerp is testing whether this technology can help let people go about their business.
Workers there wear wristbands that aim to reduce accidents. They vibrate as a vehicle approaches and raise the alarm if someone falls into water.