How to end virus lockdowns? Technology, tests, coordination

A passenger receiving a face mask distributed by a red cross volunteer at the main train station in Barcelona, Spain. South Korea and Israel have both aggressively used smartphone data to track the movements of virus carriers. But in general, epidemiologists say contact tracing can only be effective with widely available testing, which has been difficult even in wealthy countries such as the United States and Britain. — AP

BERLIN: Governments battling a virus that has crossed borders with breathtaking swiftness pinned their hopes Tuesday on tests, technology and a coordinated approach to ease the tight social-distancing restrictions that have slowed the pandemic but strangled the global economy.

While the European Union looked into creating a Covid-19 smartphone app that could function across the bloc, governors on both US coasts pledged to work together as they planned an end to the confinement of millions. The main concern is to avoid new coronavirus hot spots and flare-ups of infections. But trying to build such infrastructure while still in mid-crisis during the pandemic is proving difficult.