Germany will re-open all shops and schools before the end of May, according to a draft agreement between Angela Merkel and state leaders – but border checks have been extended.
Berlin is preparing a further easing of the lockdown after officials said an initial lifting of restrictions on April 30 had not caused a surge in cases.
Shops could re-open across Germany while the regions would decide on a timetable to re-open bars, restaurants, hotels, cinemas and universities.
Schools would also re-open fully before the end of this month, while the Bundesliga football season could resume as soon as May 21.
However, the border controls introduced on March 16 have been renewed, and people who cannot provide ‘urgent reasons’ to enter Germany are being turned away.
Merkel will discuss the plans with the 16 state premiers today after Germany’s daily infection count stayed below 1,000 for the fifth day running.
The chancellor has urged caution about re-opening Germany, but has come under pressure after some states took unilateral action to restart their economies.
Police officers patrol an empty Frankfurt Airport – usually the busiest in Germany – as the country extends the border controls which were introduced in mid-March
A group of secondary school children sit at their desks at a school in Ettlingen in southern Germany on Monday. All schools could be set to re-open by the end of May
Germany today recorded 947 new cases, up from 685 yesterday, taking the total from 163,860 to 164,807.
There were 165 more deaths, up from 139 on Tuesday, bringing the overall death toll from 6,831 to 6,996.
Germany began tentatively lifting its lockdown two weeks ago, opening some shops and schools, after infection rates came down.
Merkel and the state leaders agreed last week to loosen the rules further, giving religious institutions, playgrounds, museums and zoos the green light to open.
‘Even after initial steps to open up were introduced from April 20, the number of new infections remained low,’ the draft document reads, with ‘no new wave of infection’ so far detected – justifying bolder steps.
The latest proposals say that restrictions should be re-imposed at a local level if there is a surge in new infections after the lockdown is eased.
The plan is for this threshold to be set at ‘more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the last seven days’ in a particular district.
If there is a limited outbreak, such as in a nursing home, restrictions might only be applied there, the paper suggested.
‘If there is a dispersed regional outbreak and infection chains are unclear, general restrictions, such as those in force in Germany before 20 April, must be consistently reintroduced regionally,’ the paper says.
It added that this would include restricting travel to and from these regions.
Based on infection levels, states will decide on how to re-open universities, restaurants, bars, hotels, trade fairs, cosmetic studios, brothels, theatres, fitness studios, cinemas and discos with appropriate social distancing measures.
Germany’s daily infection count has now been below 1,000 for four days running, although it rose from 685 yesterday to 947 today
Germany’s death toll in the last 24 hours was 165, up from 139 the previous day, bringing the total to 6,996
Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcantara passes the ball to a coach at the club’s training ground yesterday, with the Bundesliga gearing up to resume as soon as May 21
A man gets a haircut at a salon in Berlin on Monday, after Germany allowed some shops and schools to re-open at the end of April and start of May
According to the draft document, Merkel and state leaders believe that resuming the Bundesliga and second division is an ‘acceptable’ move to ‘limit the economic damage’ for the 36 clubs involved.
German media has identified May 21 as a possible date for the restart, with matches played in front of empty stadiums.
Each squad would quarantine itself for two weeks before resuming the season, possibly by taking a training camp, the proposals say.
Health officials have previously cast doubt on whether Germany’s large testing capacity should be used for the sake of football.
But football bosses hope that restarting the Bundesliga will ‘give millions of fans a little more zest for life again’.
Merkel has also asked regional leaders to draw up plans for how the food and drink industry could restart.
But Bavaria has already pre-empted today’s meeting by announcing that restaurants and beer gardens would re-open from May 18 and hotels from May 30.
State premier Markus Soeder said Bavaria will move from a policy of limiting people’s movements to limiting personal contact.
He said ‘the time has come for a cautious reopening’, pointing to the ‘success’ in containing the spread of the virus.
‘We will allow hotels and tourism from the Pentecost weekend, the 30th, but without saunas, wellness facilities or swimming pools,’ he told reporters.
It will also be possible for families to visit elderly relatives, a group particularly at risk, in care homes.
German chancellor Angela Merkel, pictured in Berlin last week, has urged caution about re-opening Germany – but some states have already pre-empted her talks with regional leaders
Shoppers line up outside Berlin’s KaDeWe department store earlier this week after some shops were allowed to re-open following the lockdown
Bavaria is the worst-hit state in Germany with 43,371 cases and 2,001 deaths, but the state has put its rate of transmission (R) as lower than the national figure.
The national Robert Koch disease institute estimates Germany’s figure at 0.71, meaning that each virus patient infects another 0.71 people on average.
Merkel – who is planning to step down in 2021 – saw a surge in popularity in the early weeks of the crisis but has faced growing calls to restart the economy.
At local government level, dozen of mayors in southern Germany have urged the state and federal governments to open the borders to France and Switzerland.
The federal government has extended controls along the frontier with France, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Denmark until May 15 to limit transmissions.
The umbrella group representing German industry, the BDI, has warned that Germany’s future as a major manufacturer could be endangered if lockdown measures continued.
North Rhine-Westphalia premier Armin Laschet, who has criticised Merkel’s firmer stance on restrictions, says the negative effects of lockdown must be ‘weighed up’.
He attacked what he said were the pessimistic predictions of some medical experts, pointing out that ’40 per cent of intensive care beds are empty’ in his state.
Demonstrations against the lockdown were held in several German cities last weekend.
The far-right AfD, Germany’s largest opposition party by number of MPs, has also attacked the lockdown measures.
But experts continue to call for restraint. The Robert Koch institute has repeatedly warned of possible second or even third waves of the virus hitting the country.
At a briefing on Tuesday, RKI head Lothar Wieler urged vigilance.
‘Social distancing is certainly the new normal and will help to ensure that the infection rate remains low,’ he said.
‘If we ease restrictions, this will of course increase the risk of new infections.’