North Macedonia adopts three-phase plan to ease lockdown measures

Source: Xinhua| 2020-05-13 06:15:34|Editor: huaxia

SKOPJE, May 12 (Xinhua) -- North Macedonia adopted a three-phase plan to ease the coronavirus lockdown, the government said Tuesday in a statement.

Speaking at a press conference, Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski said that the first phase will involve the reopening of businesses during the state of emergency and the gradual easing of the citizens' movement nationwide.

The second phase, which is considered a transitional phase, will allow some workplaces to reopen under recommended measures and strict work protocols in terms of prevention of COVID-19 spread.

During the third phase, all workplaces will be allowed to reopen with respect to the basic preventive and anti-pandemic measures for maintaining personal hygiene and physical distance.

According to Spasovski, between each phase, decisions will be made after an assessment of the situation on whether to continue to relax the measures and continue with the next phase.

The prime minister noted that bars and restaurants will not be allowed to reopen and that the authorities will unveil a plan next week, adding that "everything depends on the epidemiological situation and the adherence to the measures."

North Macedonia has imposed a set of measures as well as nationwide curfew from March 22 in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Ten new coronavirus cases were registered in North Macedonia over the last 24 hours, raising the total number of cases to 1,674, with 1,205 recoveries and 92 fatalities, health authorities said. Enditem

KEY WORDS:
EXPLORE XINHUANET
010020070750000000000000011102121390517721