>> french prime minister outlines the full details of the government's exist or to g just four days before the nation is to begin easing lockdown restrictions. also the bank of england warns the pandemic will push the u.k. economy toward its deepest recession on record. it says the economy is on course to shrink by 14% this year. university -- ununiversities and schools closed, we e meet a youg

man behind a free onlnline plot- online learning platform whihich ensures students don't fall behind. back to thelcome france 24 newsroom. we begin in france which is preparing to emerge from a nationwide lockdown next monday. the prime minister is to announce today how restrictions will be eased. the government has said the move will be gradualal. ththe country reports 200 78 new debts from covid-19 while seeing -- 278 new deaths from covid-19. away from theays end of an eight week lockdown, many questions remain about how the gradual process will take shape. first up, the easing of restrictions will depend on where people live. each department will be color-coded depending on how

badly they are affected by the virus and how well they are coping. employers have been asked to continue allowing home working as much as possible and take strict disk -- strict distancing measures. masks will be mandatorory on public transport. dreams --ng distance long distance trains will be very limited with half of the seats available. in paris, 70% of metro and buses will be operational but the number of passengers will be limited during rush hour. many working parents are bracing for more headache as it is unclear when their children will go back to school. some schools will reopen on monday but the number of pupils will be limited. are decided --ls are undecided. according to one survrvey, more than half of the parents say they don't want to send their

kids back to school just yet anyway. shops will be allowed to reopen but restaurants and cafes will the to be closed longer and government has repeatedly warned the country could be back on lockdown the second -- a sick -- if a second wave of infections hits the country. >> joining us now as a political scientist and commit occasions specialist. -- and communications specialist. much cririticism over presididet macron's handling o of this pandemic. whwhat werthe major issusues in your opipion? quite a long series of hesitation. probobably more weaeaknesses amt all systetems and it was quque e revelation that the whole french

sanitary system was very weak. were one ofoughtht we the best systems in e europe, probably in the world and the revelation of the crisis was .hat everyththing was very weak shocked andndstem was the e crash test was not very good. criticism is s preparing to be veryry strong in the next weeks. >> cerertainly the practice thte pushsh for widesespread teststid the flip-flopping onon the issue ofof masks did not help. behind the whole hesitation

n-preparation. no masks, no tests. all -- it was not at all what they thought it was. that thiso understand was a strong and bad disiscover. the factct that we were not at l prepareded. it was like somethining between the south and the n north, with ththe whole issue around trtreatment. behindnd that issueue, something the headlusion between of the senate tory -- the head of the sanitary system and research issues.

this is not only a crisis around covid, it is around what is the organization o of france today n relation to the whole possibilitity. rececognitionpublic that by comparisison to the u.u, the e government heree certainly managed the crcrisis better? it.eah, if you look at the answer was quicker. even though -- [inaudible] hehesitationon was lononger in e u.k.k. betweenhing was i in

sanitary issues. [inaudible] the u.k. did it afterwards. [inaudible] it is something that is more around sanitation. [inaudible] the whole declaration at the street level, the school won't be able to accept as many students as they once had to it is very complicated. [inaudible] >> thank you..

it was once known as onone of france's prettiest villages. thanks to the pandemic there are no tourists which means its main source of income has completely dried up. >> a medieval villagege perchedn a hill, it is a tourist hotspot. the entire population lives on tourism. coronavirus restrictions have left streets empty just as the busiest tourist season starts. [speaking spanish] >> it will be a good while

before foreign tourists return. [speaking french] >> on monday, shops in the village will reopen but hotels and restaurants will have to remain shut, meaning the town's economic engine will continue to be idle. [speaking french] >> damage to tourism impacts all other local sectors. areas have seen production

reduced by half. [speaking french] >> not many people are coming to the farm to directly by their cheese -- directly buy their cheese. [speaking french] >> the one thing the tiny village wants to see more than anything else, a return to normalcy. the bankiness now and of england has forecast the pandemic will push the british economy into a historically large recession. this as the economy is on course to shrink 14% this year based on the lockdown being relaxed in

june. our business editor has more. recessionon predicted in the u.k. in hundreds of years. the bank of england has t trying to extrapolate how this data will go back into the p past and they say you need d to go back o the start of the 18th century to a recession so deep. 1414% is what they expect the u. economy to contract by. it is expected in the three months from april to june, it will be a contraction of 25% for the u.k. economy. a huge shock to the british econonomy. the babank saying it not noticig any -- enanacting any new measus at the moment. it already spent 200 billion pounds to o help finance the government efforts to cocombat e ececonomic e effects of ththe v. it stands ready to do more as well but it is working on a

measure that would see social distancing measures reduce between june and september. still seeing that 14% but a significicant recovery net year. ecocomy expects to shrink by 8% this year, the german economy by 6.5%. e england doesf say is it doesesn'tt expect t ts particicular economic crisisis o leavave any lasting scars in contrast with the financial crisis of 2008. >> politicians have approved the formation of a unity government the israeli prime minister and his political rival . parliament having back to the coalition bill by 71 votes to 37, the two men are respected to be sworn in to the power-sharing government next weweek.

in many coununtries around the world, the pandemic has massively affected the education oftem in the african nation -- but our team on the ground went to meet the young man behind the country's first ever digital school. it is a free online learning -- free online learning platform which in sears - -- which insurs students do not fall behind. >> when his college closed in march because of covid-19, damien began to worry abouout hs entry exaxams. settling intched to an online classroom. i is welcomeorm because it helps us access courses we are not actually attending. we can stay-at-home and learn our r ssons. you have exercises and evaluations you can do. there are teachers who can help youu understand the classes better. >> a 24-year-old is a digitatal

entrepreneur. he said the goal is to give students access to thousands of free online courses. >> after registering, the student lands on his online dashboard which allows him to choose courses. he can also search for the subject he wants to study. at the end there are exercises to do. they can even take a quiz to make sure they understood the lesson. courses are all validated byby teachers first. the learning tool has quickly took off - -- quickly y taken o. [speaking french] >> the governmenent has announcd

schools to open on may 11 for stududents preparing exams. the platform will keep helping students even beyond the resolution of the covid-19 virus. ♪ >> while these caged birds perhaps dream of spreading their wings, -- has no desire to join them. insteaead, he avoids all contact with the world beyond a tiny room he has left in the last decade. komori, a japanese

word f for someone who seeks isolation and never leaves home. >> i need the sosound of the tv otherwise i don't feel well. the silence reminds me i am alalone. i often stay in my futon the whole day and just stare at the ceiling. >> he had a normal childhood. at university he was bullied by one of his professors and other students. the trauma turned him against people in general and since then, time has stood still. he is 32 but his room looksks le it belongs t to a teenager. he struggles to find the words to expressss himself, as if he s trying to -- as if he is trying to find a sense of direction in life. >> it is as if i forget everything and nothing is clear-cut. all i know is that my body feels

heavy, i am afraid of the world, even a phone call or in email stresses me out. depression or ugly -- or other mental health problem or an act of rebellion? whatever the diagnosis, these peoplele are united by a an inability to comply with japan's strict rules of social interaction. his mother is preparing a meal for him. they depend on t their parents o survive. the parents are ashamed of their children, members of a lost in a ratition in a society that placs a premium on work. >> i stood outside his bedroom door many times and begged him to come out, to go to the park, the bird shop, because he liked birds. do.n't know what to i have consulted doctors and have been to seminars. all i can say is that it is

really hard. he is not interested in anything . i have tried to get him interested in things but he does not want to go out. it is making me depressed. ♪ phenomenon was identified in the late 1990's by japan's post-public -- japan's post bubble economic hardships hit young people especially hard. most of them are men but an increasing number are women. aboutabilitity to get just anything they need online means they never have to leave the room. alice has lived a recursivive le for a total of five years -- a reclusive life for a total of five years. went through my phase when

i was young but i managed to come out of it. then i went to university, found a job and a boyfriend. i thought i had been spared and then finally i had a r relapse. it is if the lights have been turned off. i have no willpower and no desire to do anything. there is nothing inside anymore. >> alice ended up leaving her job and her husband. these days she feels more comfortable talking to people. others are not so fortunate.

every year, an estimated 30,000 reclusive people die in the -- diane japan. they are not suicides but solitary silent ends. room was once home to a 68-year-old man. keep all the documents organized. bills and bank cards. neighbors alerted the authorities after noticing the smell, two months after the death. these the belongings of a person who died alone. companies specialize in cleaning apartments once occupied by tenants who died alone. >>'s legs were herere and his hd there. he must have had a fall.

life of theterious former occupant slowly becomes relevant. after working as an accountant for 40 years, he stopped communicating with the outside world after he retired. >> ready meals. these are typical of the foods eaten by people who live alone. i go about my cleaning methodically and try not to think about the circumstances or delve too deeply into the lives of the people. all ththe same, i can'n't avoid seeing their possessions. i tell myself i amam going to gt married and not end up alone. >> as japanese society ages, so do the hikkomori. with no family or friends to

look out for them, they simply fade from view, ignored by the rest of society. if these people had more contact with their neighbors, we could have avoided these solitary deaths. r realld try to build a community spirit with proper medication between neighbors -- proper communication between neighbors. >> the dead man did have someone, his niece. >> do you want to keep these documents? >> yes, i have already put aside all the important ones. i care and i call him. him or send asit message. i cared. to help him out.

want.n't >> he was very lonely. >> he likes it that way. he lived alone so he died alone. the hikkomori seemed determined to hang onto their solitude that many dream of a different life -- but many dream of a different life. the japanese government considered -- conducted its first wide study of hikkomori. a book on hikkomori was published that claims japanese society is to blame. countrieseuropean that value the importance of the individual, the japanese emphasize common rules. in that sense an individual's value is dependent on his ability to conform to the rules

seset by the groupup. the hikkomori are people who are unable to do that and as a result they feel completely useless. they are ashamed. they are incapable of fofollowig the rules of society and they suffer frorom feelings of g guis a resusult. >> some nongovernmental organizations o offer job traing to those willing to leave their rooms for a few hours.. >> this is how you create an access site. basics grgroup teaches thee for emailing a senior colleague, speaking in public or simply laughing and relaxing among other people. >> i would like to ask a question but i don't know how. first we ask them to come twice a month as initially the aim is just to persuade them to

leave their homes. we start slowly. we don't have sessions every day. we can't ask too much of them. around two out of three lose intnterest but others go on to find jobs. before i was incapable of speaking but i am not scared anymore. i can communicate with my colleagues and work as part of a team. i think that is what i really learned here, to collaborate and communicate. i can start my life again. i have more confidence now. for him and others, -- alice has been working at a startup

for the past few months. her employer knows about her past and allows her some freedom. most important, she is no longer afraid of going out and meeting other people. beginning my eyes were so used to the darkness of my room the sunlight was blinding. i couldn't bear it. i suffered with that for a long time. >> once a month she goes to the editorial meeting of a magazine that is both for and by the hikkomori. a publication that launched earlier this year. today theyey are eager to share their experiences. it was a beginning voyage of discovery. i finally felt comfortable with people. everybody here has experienced what i have experienced.

>> i don't like being in places where there are a lot of people but here, we know each other and don't judge each other. we can behave how we like. we don't t even have to sit down if we don't want to.

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