Germany outlines plan to relax coronavirus lockdown, resume daily life

https://www.revenuehits.com/lps/pubref/?ref=@RH@yFrunQv_mzw-z-eHW6TrQFgCNN7_AvfT

Germany outlines plan to relax coronavirus lockdown, resume daily life

Germany has drafted a plan to scale back its coronavirus lockdown and allow a gradual return to public life, although Chancellor Angela Merkel says it is still too early to end restrictive measures.

Germany’s Interior Ministry wrote the measures, which include a list of steps that require masks to be worn in public, a limit on public gatherings and tracing infection chains to control any future spreading of COVID-19, Reuters reported.

The document, seen by the outlet on Monday, assumes the pandemic will last until 2021. Germans have been under lockdown since March 22. The order is set to expire on April 19, but German officials say it could be a long time before the lockdown is scaled back. Merkel told reporters Monday at a press briefing that it is too early to discuss an end date to restrictive measures as "we're still living in the pandemic.”

“We would be a bad government if we did not intensively, day and night, consider how we can take steps to return to ordinary life while still protecting health,” Merkel said, adding that she'd be a bad chancellor if she set an immediate date to end restrictions.

The drafted plan says its measures will be enough to keep the average number of people infected by a single person below one whenever the country ends its lockdown.

While strict social distancing measures will remain in place, stores will be allowed to reopen, along with schools in select regions, and border closures will be relaxed. Private parties and other large events will remain banned, according to the new plan.