BERLIN, April 30 — Germany is poised to further ease curbs on public life, with religious institutions, museums and zoos to be given the green light to reopen, a government source said on Thursday.
Rules to maintain social distancing to prevent transmission of the novel coronavirus will apply, according to a plan to be approved Chancellor Angela Merkel and premiers of Germany's 16 states when they hold a conference later on Thursday.
In order to receive visitors, the institutions will have to meet “requirements for hygiene, access control and avoidance of queues”, according to the plan.
Germany has in the last weeks began to unwind stay-at-home measures aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus, with shops allowed to receive customers again since last week.
Restrictions were relaxed after the infection rate fell under 1.0 — meaning each person is infecting less than one other — as opposed to each infecting up five or six people.
With a relatively low death rate of four percent, Germany has been hailed for its success so far in preventing its health services from being overwhelmed.
As the situation improves, voices are now growing louder within Europe's biggest economy for the government to move faster on lifting the restrictions that have seriously crippled the economy.
The shutdown lasting more than a month has sunk the economy into a recession, which the government estimates will reach 6.3 percent for the full year.
The ranks of jobless people have also swelled significantly, reaching 2.6 million in April from 2.3 million in March.
Late Wednesday, authorities also suffered a setback on their lockdown plans after the constitutional court a ban on religious services amounted to “a serious infringement of religious freedom”.
But like other countries seeking a way out of their lockdowns, Merkel is treading the fine line between allowing the economy to reboot while preventing a new wave of infections.
Ahead of Thursday's talks with state premiers, the chancellery said that for the moment, overriding measures such as social distancing will have to apply until May 11.
The question of whether restaurants and bars would be allowed to reopen would not be addressed Thursday but at the next meeting between Merkel and state premiers on May 6. — AFP
