Germany plans to let smaller shops reopen next week after a weeks-long coronavirus shutdown and to start reopening schools in early May, but Europe's biggest economy is keeping strict social distancing rules in place for now, AP reports.
After much-anticipated talks on Wednesday with Germany's 16 state governors, Chancellor Angela Merkel set out a plan for the first steps of a cautious restart of public life following neighbouring Austria and Denmark and other countries in launching a slow loosening of restrictions.
New infections in Germany have slowed in recent weeks, but Merkel cautioned that the country has achieved only a fragile intermediate success so far and doesn't have much room for manoeuvre.
