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  • Well, those of you watching now, if you've been watching across the last two weeks, you'll know that the biggest single issue in this crisis has been how countries ease their lockdowns without causing a spike in cases that I'm gonna start in Lebanon to illustrate just how hard this is going to be.

  • Because the government there has now reimposed its locked down because of a new rise in cases you can see in these pictures.

  • Shops, restaurants and hair salons had been allowed to reopen, but now they're being told to close again.

  • I should say the Lebanese government's approach through this crisis has been effective.

  • The country's death toll is below 30.

  • But as with many other countries, the government's trying to both save lives on the economy.

  • On this is even more pressing in Lebanon, where the economy was already in a perilous state.

  • Corinne Torbay in Beirut has more.

  • Lebanon has started a four day shutdown that would expire by 5 a.m. On Monday.

  • This is a setback for the country's.

  • It was just days ago celebrating zero new infections and was easing the lock down and preparing for a gradual return to normal Now things have worsened and there are renewed fears that things might go out of control again in case off an outbreak.

  • There's also sort off a blame game happening here.

  • On one side, the government is saying that many in the society, I'm not being as vigilant as they should, and they are not observing the necessity, very safety measures.

  • On the other side, there is anger towards some off.

  • The Lebanese, who have recently returned from abroad who have tested positive and a group among home have not respected the requirements off self isolation.

  • Next return to Saudi Arabia, where lockdowns being announced for the eat holiday, which will take place in around 10 days time.

  • Already Ramadan's being heavily disrupted.

  • These pictures are of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, holding night prayers for the first night of Ramadan.

  • This was in April.

  • Normally, you'd see hundreds of thousands of people gathered for this, but not in 2020.

  • Now, these new restrictions on the eve holiday will run from May, the 23rd to May the 27th and of course, these in normally times of great celebration at the end of Ramadan, those celebrations will still happen, but not as they normally do.

  • And this is another example of how mindful governments of being of the virus surging back by the China next.

  • Of course, it was the first to tackle this virus on the first.

  • To try and ease restrictions while controlling the number of cases, and already in China was seeing the kind of localised lockdowns that are likely to become a feature of life in many countries are focused today.

  • G lean.

  • It's a city in the east of China.

  • It's shutting down its transport links after a new cluster of Corona virus cases that's connected Toa one man.

  • Now No one in the city's population of four million can leave now unless they've tested negative.

  • Here's more from our China correspondent Steven McDonald.

  • It's being traced back to a cleaner in a large police stations, the police station with special weapons, police with traffic police, hundreds of officers.

  • And you can imagine why the authorities will be worried about the virus getting into a population like that now.

  • It's not clear how the cleaner was originally infected, but one theory has bean that it possibly came from the clothing off the police officers who have bean at the front line in terms of doing Corona virus testing.

  • Either way, what this shows you is that the Chinese government now has an attitude that if there's a cluster anywhere in this country, no matter how small it is, they're going to crash it.

  • What least try to, with very strict measures as a way of trying to prevent a second wave of this virus passing through the country where this global emergency first started.

  • Russia now and it's having far less success than China and containing the virus.

  • It's reported more than 10,000 cases for the 11th consecutive day.

  • That brings its overall total of cases to over 240,000 now.

  • Earlier this week, President Putin announced that businesses will go back to work on cities, as you can see have been noticeably busier.

  • But the government is that under pressure, the Health Ministry has had to deny that it's under reporting the number of fatalities.

  • The official statistic is 2200.

  • But just as we discussed yesterday with reference to the UK, many statisticians feel the most accurate measure is to compare how many deaths we'd expect per week at this time of year and then compare it with what's happening in 2020.

  • Do that in Russia and it looks like the death toll could be over three times higher.

  • For the moment, though, the government is continuing with its plans for Russian society to reopen now as we continue to try and understand the easing off restrictions and how they impact on societies, Denmark is very useful.

  • Lots of countries is just beginning this process.

  • My Danish Children have order being back at school for a month on the BBC's Gene Mackenzie has been looking at how that's working.

  • The school's been cleverly redrawn, so each child only comes into contact with a very small number of other Children.

  • Normally, they sit to into you have the class of 20 has been cut down to two groups of 10.

  • That's why you have the plastic because those two groups, on alert to know exactly when they're going outside in the brakes, we have to divide those groups into even smaller groups.

  • So the kids just have four other Children that they're allowed to play with, and they're only given one part of the playground that they're allowed to be in.

  • And there's a lot of this.

  • How many times you offer Dino?

  • Denmark reopened primary schools very early on.

  • It was feared the infection rate would rise on.

  • Initially it did.

  • But it's back down again.

  • And with so many parents in work here, this was a targeted risk.

  • If we had to give the economy moving again, then we need to get the kids back into not only schools but also day care.

  • Try to enhance productivity For those forced still to work at home, it was a challenge to do your job while having a home.

  • It's much more easy for me to concentrate, have a roll off hours Where can just work.

  • This, they said, was impossible.

  • Children Social distancing.

  • Now it might not be school as they know it, but they're making it work.

  • So some better news there from Denmark, more better news as well.

  • From Taiwan, it's reporting zero new cases for 1/6 day in a row.

  • That's evidence that the virus can be contained.

  • But of course, the challenge here is to keep it that way, while allowing some elements of normal life a least to resume and cache of that challenges we've been seeing in all those examples is one that's being faced by many countries around the world of the moment.

Well, those of you watching now, if you've been watching across the last two weeks, you'll know that the biggest single issue in this crisis has been how countries ease their lockdowns without causing a spike in cases that I'm gonna start in Lebanon to illustrate just how hard this is going to be.

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