Italy loosens Europe’s longest lockdown

“There will be many more opportunities for possible contagion, which we can only avoid with an even greater sense of responsibility,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote on social media the night before the restrictions lifted.

Italians were able to reclaim a few basic freedoms â€" including the chance to exercise outdoors. They could also travel within a region to visit relatives.

The steps taken by Italy come as just one part of a broader reopening across Europe. In Germany, several school grades returned to classes on Monday. France plans to restart schooling next week.

But it’s hardly a return to normal. In Italy, movement across regions remains highly restricted. Schools, and most retail stores, remain shuttered. There’s a hope that restaurants and bars can resume sit-down service on June 1, but that decision will depend on how the virus progresses in the coming weeks.

For many, the continued restrictions â€" and the uncertainty about how long they will last â€" have sparked signs of frustration. Restaurateurs have worried about running out of cash and closing permanently. The question of how fully to reopen has caused friction between Conte and regional governments, with some demanding a more accelerated pace.

But Italy is hemmed in by the scale of the outbreak. The country has 100,000 reported ongoing coronavirus cases. A government scientific panel, studying various reopening scenarios, found without school closures and continued widespread telework, Italian hospitals would again become overwhelmed.

“There is not much room to maneuver on reopenings,” concluded the report, which was shared by the newspaper La Repubblica.

As of now, the country plans to restart retail stores, along with museums, on May 18. But experts also worry that the virus could come roaring back. Italy has set guidelines â€" including the transmission rate of the virus and the regional hospital capacity â€" that would reactivate lockdowns in emerging hotspot areas.

The peril is most immediate for northern regions, which were the hardest-hit by the first wave of the virus, and which happen to be the most industrialized areas.

“Most of the 4.5 million people returning to work live in the regions where the epidemic is less under control,” said Nino Cartabellotta, a public health researcher who is president of the Gimbe Foundation.

Morris reported from Berlin.