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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 13 May 2020
U.K. U-turns on masks as lockdown-easing steps spark confusion

By JILL LAWLESS taurants and most shops. able to work from home, will
Associated Press Britain's official coronavirus be put at risk. That concern
LONDON (AP) — The British death toll stood Monday was underscored by official
government performed an at 32,065, the highest in statistics showing that men
about-face on masks Mon- Europe and the second- working as security guards,
day, telling people to cov- highest in the world after construction workers, transit
er their mouth and nose in the United States. While the workers and shop assistants
shops, buses and subway number of new deaths and had experienced higher-
trains. The change came infections is falling, John- than-average mortality in
as part of what Prime Minis- son said it would be "mad- the outbreak. Men overall
ter Boris Johnson called the ness" to loosen restrictions are about twice as likely
"first careful measures" to lift so much that there is a new as women to die with the
a nationwide lockdown im- surge in cases. coronavirus.
posed seven weeks ago to But he made a dramatic London's Waterloo station,
slow the spread of the new shift in tone on the econo- usually the country's busiest
coronavirus. In this photo issued by 10 Downing Street on Sunday, May 10, my. Since March 23, work- train hub, remained largely
A 50-page government 2020, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers an address on ers have been told to stay quiet Monday morning but
document outlining cau- lifting the country's lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic. at home. Now Johnson commuters venturing back
tious steps to ease restric- Associated Press said "anyone who can't to work said they worried
tions said "people should and golf courses and tennis quarantine on people ar- work from home, for in- that services would soon
aim to wear a face-cov- courts can reopen. riving by air. Travelers from stance those in construc- be thronged again.
ering in enclosed spaces If there is no new spike in Ireland and France will be tion or manufacturing, Peter Osu, 45, who was re-
where social distancing is infections, that will be fol- exempt. should be actively encour- turning to work at a con-
not always possible and lowed in June by a return While many people wel- aged to go to work." He struction site for the first time
they come into contact to class for some young comed the prospect of said workplaces should ob- since the lockdown started,
with others that they do not school pupils, the reopen- an end to lockdown, there serve social distancing and said he felt nervous.
normally meet, for example ing of nonessential shops was confusion about the people should avoid public "People were sitting close
on public transport or in and the return of televised measures, which were an- transport if possible, travel- together on the (subway)
some shops." sports, played behind nounced by Johnson in a ing "by car or even better and others were having
That is a recommenda- closed doors. televised speech almost by walking or bicycle." to stand," he said. "There
tion rather than a rule, and A third stage, penciled 24 hours before the details Employees, business own- was no 2-meter spacing.
people won't be penalized in for July at the soonest, were published. ers and trade unions ex- This is the first day. Can you
if they don't wear a mask. would see the gradual re- "What the country needs pressed concern about the imagine what it's going to
The government outlined opening of restaurants, ca- at this time is clarity and gear-change, saying the look like by the end of the
a three-stage approach fes, pubs, hairdressers and reassurance, and at the advice was confusing and week?"
to ending lockdown, be- other businesses. Johnson moment both are in pret- potentially dangerous — The reopening plan has put
ginning Wednesday with a told lawmakers that "if the ty short supply," said Keir especially in a big city like Johnson's U.K. government
relaxing of limits on outdoor alert level begins to rise we Starmer, leader of the main London, where most peo- at odds with semi-auton-
activity. People in Eng- will have no hesitation in opposition Labour Party. ple do not own cars and omous authorities in Scot-
land may take unlimited putting on the brakes." In a televised statement where subways are oper- land, Wales and Northern
amounts of exercise, rather Johnson, who was hospital- Sunday, Johnson extend- ating at a fraction of their Ireland, who urged caution
than just one trip out a day, ized last month with a seri- ed most of the draconian usual capacity. and said they would not
and may sit and sunbathe ous bout of COVID-19, also restrictions on daily life im- Some expressed fears that automatically adopt the
outdoors. Driving to a park said that within weeks the posed March 23, including people in low-paid jobs, measures Johnson has an-
or beach will be permitted, U.K. would impose a 14-day the closure of schools, res- who are less likely to be nounced for England. q

Poll: Taiwanese distance themselves from Chinese identity

search Center found that Seventy years later, young- he said. "It is quite under-
66% view themselves as Tai- er generations in particular standable that people
wanese, 28% as both Tai- have developed a distinct don't want to be identified
wanese and Chinese and identity, with 83% of respon- as Chinese."
4% as just Chinese. The tele- dents under 30 saying they Taiwan has never declared
phone poll of 1,562 people, don't consider themselves independence, though
conducted last fall, has a Chinese. in many ways it acts like a
margin of error of 3.2 per- Alexander Huang, a profes- nation, with its own foreign
centage points. sor at Tamkang University in ministry and military. China
The results are consistent Taiwan, said it is a question still considers the island of
with other polls showing of politics, not ethnic back- 23.6 million people part of
that people in Taiwan in- ground. Younger Taiwan- its territory and bristles at
creasingly identify only as ese grew up in a democ- any talk of independence.
Taiwanese, Pew said. racy, while China is a one- It favors peaceful unifica-
Today's Taiwan was born party state. tion but pointedly does not
In this photo taken Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, supporters of the of a civil war in China that Another factor, Huang said, rule out the use of force, if
Nationalist or KMT party pose with the Taiwanese flag during a brought Mao Zedong's is the diplomatic pressure necessary.
rally for the presidential election in Taipei, Taiwan. Communists to power on that China puts on Taiwan The Pew survey found that
Associated Press the mainland in 1949. The and the military exercises it about 60% of Taiwanese
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — About lights the challenge China rival Nationalists, led by conducts in Taiwan's vicin- have an unfavorable view
two-thirds of Taiwanese would face in bringing the Chiang Kai-shek, fled to ity. of China. While 52% sup-
don't identify as Chinese, self-governing island under Taiwan, an island about "We are ethnic Chinese for port closer economic ties
according to a survey re- its control. 160 kilometers (100 miles) sure. But politically, I think with China, only 36% favor
leased Tuesday that high- The U.S.-based Pew Re- off China's east coast. that's the big difference," closer political ties. q