Germany eyes some normality after bringing coronavirus outbreak ‘under control’
- World’s fourth largest economy has emerged as a leader among European nations in the fight against the pandemic
- On Monday, thousands of shops in Germany can reopen, followed by schools next month
Declaring that it has brought the coronavirus “under control”, Germany will allow thousands of shops, bookstores, furniture stores and car dealerships to reopen on Monday in what amounts to a first significant step towards a return to normality in Europe’s biggest economy.
But the cautious restart in Germany after a month of public lockdown – a reflection of its low Covid-19 death and falling reproduction rates – stands in sharp contrast to Spain, France, Italy and the UK. Lockdowns designed to slow the spread of the virus have been extended into May as the total numbers of deaths in those four major European countries rose ominously towards 80,000.
“The outbreak has become more and more under control and manageable every day,” German Health Minister Jens Spahn said at a news conference in Berlin on Friday, comments that resonated against a backdrop of gloom coming from other parts of Europe.
More than 20,000 people have died each in Italy and Spain while the fatality numbers in France (19,349) and the UK (15,498) also continue to rise rapidly every day. Germany has the world’s fifth highest number of infected (143,724) yet has only the eighth highest number of deaths (4,538) – behind the United States, Italy, Spain, France, UK, Belgium, and Iran.
Germany, which has the world’s fourth largest economy, has emerged as a leader among European nations in the fight against the pandemic and its tentative steps to ease the social and business restrictions that have crippled economies will be watched closely for signs of hope or caution across Europe and around the world.