Germany weighs conditions for lifting restrictions
Al JazeeraThe suggestions will be influential in government considerations over loosening Germany’s lockdown. Public life in Germany, halted by the coronavirus outbreak, may gradually return to normal if certain conditions are met – including an infection rate stabilising at a low level – according to recommendations sent to Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors on Monday. The suggestions, by the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, will play a prominent role in considerations this week for a possible loosening in movement and social distancing rules in place since around mid-March. Senior politicians have begun debating a potential easing of restrictions as the number of new infections and deaths declines in Germany, which has weathered the pandemic better than Italy, Spain and France. But the export-driven economy – Europe’s largest – has been hit hard and may contract 9.8 percent in the second quarter, its top economic research institutes have said.