Senegal president Macky Sall has announced the decision to lift the state of emergency and curfew, imposed as a result of the coronavirus on the country, while international flights would resume from next month.
In a televised speech, Sall attributed this move to the economic fallout of the pandemic, saying that growth in the impoverished country would slow from to 6.8 percent to 1.1 percent or even less.
Senegal faces a prospective recession, he suggested, saying that all our productive activity must be resumed in order to get our economy going again.
Just as we cannot let the virus take our lives and our health, we cannot let it take our economic health and life, Sall added.
Given this double necessity, I have decided to lift the state of emergency and the curfew starting from 2300 GMT on Tuesday, he said.
Senegal would reopen its borders to international air travel from July 15, but its land and sea borders would remain closed.
Face masks will remain mandatory in public and markets will be closed for one day per week for cleaning.
Senegal has officially declared 6,698 cases of coronavirus so far and 108 deaths, but the disease appears to be spreading and recent media reports have suggested that medical centres are reaching their capacity limits.
