German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced the government’s decision to reopen small shops next week and start reopening schools in early May, adding that strict social distancing rules will remain in place amid the ongoing coronavirus-related national lockdown.
Speaking to reporters after talks with Germany’s 16 state governors on Wednesday, she underscored that “we are moving forward in small steps and must see what effect they have”.
Merkel warned that although new COVID-19 infections in Germany have shown signs of slowing down in recent weeks, the country has thus far achieved only “a fragile intermediate success” and doesn't have “much room for manoeuvre”.
She explained that next week’s reopening pertains to non-essential shops, as well auto showrooms, bike shops and bookshops, regardless of their size.
Schools, closed since mid-March, will begin to reopen as of 4 May. This will also be the case with beauty salons, according to Merkel.
She added that the stricter restrictions will remain in force, including a ban on gatherings of more than two people in public and an order to keep at a 1.5-metre (five-foot) distance from others, which were introduced in late March.
Merkel’s announcement came after Denmark started to reopen primary schools and nurseries earlier on Wednesday, becoming the first in coronavirus-hit Europe to relax restrictions on education.
While the government touted the move as something that will let parents focus on their jobs and help keep the economy afloat, some parents reportedly lashed out at the decision, saying they don’t want their children to be used as “lab rats”.
European Commission Unveils Blueprint For Exit From Virus Lockdowns
In another development on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the EU’s roadmap for lifting national lockdowns, calling for a "coordinated exit from the confinement measures" that were introduced weeks ago across Europe in a bid to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
She underscored necessity of complying with several preconditions before governments start to lift the lockdowns which Von der Leyen said should be "gradual and consolidated”.
"Although it is clear that the path back to normalcy will take a long time, it is also obvious that we cannot maintain these extraordinary restrictions indefinitely”, she emphasised, admitting that “we will have to live with the virus until a vaccine has been developed”.
As of Wednesday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has put the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Europe at 977, 596, with 80,712 fatalities. In Germany, the number of new coronavirus cases reportedly fell for a sixth day on Wednesday, while the total number of cases stood at 137,584, with 3,524 deaths, according to the WHO.
