"When we have the [infection] curve under control, we will shift towards a new normality and towards the reconstruction of our economy."

Those were the words of Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, who struck a cautiously optimistic tone when announcing that his country is exploring ways to restart its economy, which has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures introduced to fight it. 

It wasn't just Sanchez who was preparing for life after lockdown, the French, Belgian and Finnish governments have all set up similar expert-led committees, as deaths and new infections appeared to be slowing in Southern Europe and elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Czech government said it will gradually relax its restrictions and Austria's chancellor said some shops would reopen next week. World shares were buoyed by the news, benchmarks were up about 3 percent in Paris and Frankfurt, while Tokyo jumped more than 4 percent. 

You can watch economist, Gerard Lyons, a former adviser to the currently hospitalized UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, explain how to kick-start an economy in our video. 

Many East Asian countries are now fully engaged in trying to bolster their economies after their infection curves plateaued, or declined steeply in many cases, and hopefully European nations are not too far behind. In China, the government is attempting to revitalize the country's many small- and medium-sized businesses, although as Chinese economist Liu Baocheng explains, not all enterprises might be worth saving. Read more in our interview below. 

While the number of new cases may be dropping off in many countries, the economic damage of the outbreak is still being realized – with many business sectors reporting devastating losses and expected declines in revenue. Which enterprises are bouncing back and which are facing further turmoil? Scroll down and read more below. 

Enjoy reading, 

Daniel Harries 

Digital correspondent 

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The eurozone must have an open discussion on so-called "corona bonds" as a tool to combat the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, says Portugal's Mario Centeno, who leads the Eurogroup of the bloc's finance ministers. Centeno told Italian daily La Repubblica that finance ministers must not be prejudiced against the concept of a common EU bond without an adequate discussion. Other countries, led by Germany, oppose mutualizing eurozone debt through the issuance of a joint corona bond.  

The European Commission has approved a 50 billion pounds ($61 billion) British "umbrella" scheme to support companies affected by the outbreak. The approval is in line with modified EU rules allowing a temporary and limited amount of aid to businesses facing a sudden shortage of liquidity. The British aid would take the form of grants, equity injections, tax advantages and loans. While Britain left the EU at the end of January, it continues to be subject to EU rules for a transition period set to last until the end of 2020.

Amid U.S.-European squabbling over medical supplies, the EU drew up a list of U.S. imports including lighters and plastic fittings for furniture that it will hit with tariffs in retaliation for an extension of U.S. duties on incoming steel and aluminium. U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation in January to extend tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium to derivative products, such as steel nails and aluminium cables, because imports of the latter had increased.

Meanwhile, Japan has followed many others announcing a coronavirus stimulus package worth 20 percent of the country's GDP. The package, to be confirmed by the cabinet on Tuesday, will total 108 trillion yen ($989 billion), far exceeding one compiled in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

Despite there being significantly less pressure on them than other British industries, construction activity fell in March at the fastest rate since 2009. Activity in Britain's construction sector fell the sharpest last month since the 2008 financial crisis, a survey showed on Monday.

Low-cost transatlantic air company, Norwegian Air's passenger volume fell by 60 percent year-on-year in March as it grounded planes amid efforts to halt the spread of the outbreak. It will also book a hedging loss of $102 million as the cost of fuel has plunged. The company has repeatedly raised cash from shareholders to stay in business and its Oslo-listed shares have plunged 78 percent so far this year.

British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has announced a $250 million investment in Vir Biotechnology and a plan to collaborate to develop potential treatments for COVID-19, for which there are currently no approved treatments. The initial focus will be to accelerate development of Vir's investigational treatments, VIR-7831 and VIR-7832, the companies said.

The head of BT, Britain's biggest telecoms firm, says he will donate his salary to health workers for at least six months and award a pay rise to his front-line staff, who are maintaining broadband networks during the shutdown. Philip Jansen, one of Britain's richest executives, also said the company committed to no job losses related to the health crisis for at least three months.

Just how do you kick-start an economy as the crisis eases? The key for Gerard Lyons is to do it in phases – he suggests a traffic lights system, through which citizens will be informed of exactly what they can do at each stage. Lyons, who advised UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson when he was the mayor of London, calls for the combination of social science and "raw science" to unlock the post-lockdown economy. 

Liu Baodong, director of the Center for International Business Ethics at the University of International Business and Economics, spoke to CGTN Europe about the challenges facing China's smaller businesses attempting to recover from the crisis. 

Around 77 percent of China's small- and medium-sized businesses have resumed work, what do we know then about the 23 percent that haven't?  

Well, the situation is more complex. One reason is that they are having difficulty in dealing with the debt they have raised or the loans they have borrowed from the bank. And so, therefore, they choose to close or they are also on the verge of closing their business. And the other is that some of the shops, particularly in those areas affected by the virus, are very hesitant whether to open or not. And also those workers, they primarily hire from the restricted area, as you know there was tougher quarantine, they are going to have to return to work.  

What challenges do they face? 

For many small businesses, they are vulnerable anyway. So they, as you know, after all the surprise attacks, they manage very thinly. And also, it's really sad because for the hospitality industry, as for the brick-and-mortar businesses, they are really hard hit, simply because they do not have customers. And, equally, for exporters, because of the plummeting of external demand. 

While there is fiscal support available for all Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises, what are the challenges in ensuring the policy gets implemented, transmitted at a local level? 

I have to wonder if actually not every small business that is really having difficulty needs to be salvaged because some of them, you know, because of their ill management, because of their poor governance and because they are not up to speed with the market. So they have to disappear. So, instead of flooding the market with small- and medium-sized businesses, government, and particularly at the local level, they have to be very prudent in screening, whether it is the problem caused by the pandemics or is really their own problem. So it is still much more up to the market to select the businesses – so the fittest will have to survive. But, of course, you know, for those businesses that hire vulnerable people, that's a different story, or for businesses that can cater to public goods, that's a different story also. 

Huge declines in car sales are being reported across Europe. In Italy, sales have fallen 85 percent in March, Spain 69 percent and France 72 percent. The crisis is set to rumble on as all major European car makers have suspended production because of the outbreak. And the second quarter of this year is expected to be even worse for the automobile industry, according to a study from the investment bank JP Morgan, which downgraded its global car production forecast for Europe, the Americas and China from nine percent to a 19 percent fall compared with the previous year.

The sudden drop is evident in the British car registration figures below.