this is news coming to you live from berlin germany gets back to business but within limits officials clear the way for restaurants shops of all sizes and schools to reopen a chance i'm going to hold warns that a spike in new corona virus infections could lead to lock down again also coming up bringing back the bonus league germany's top football league will return to the pitch but fans will only be allowed to watch from home.

though i'm terry martin good to have you with us germany is back in business but keeps the option to shut down again that's the word from german chancellor angela merkel who announced the easing of some coronavirus lockdown measures in the coming weeks but she warned that the steps must be taken gradually and with caution seek a closer look now at some of the challenges confronting germany states as they manage the reopening of their economies. this is what the new normal in germany could look like. all the shops open more people out on the streets wearing face masks restaurants and beer gardens are to reopen as well. but there will be regional variations due to germany's federal division of powers. as we have seen good progress as far as the number of new infections is concerned that means we can

now take further steps. that. but we have to be careful to keep control. and the emergency response mechanism we have to fend of leanness i can feel quite confident. home that means the state premiers have agreed to adjust their measures on the grounds of the number of new infections. if they rise above a certain number tougher restrictions must be reintroduced. reducing the big decisions we made today don't just concern the question of how can we ease the restrictions but also how can we continue to ensure public security we know it's difficult finding a balance between public safety and civil liberties it's because it's been left to the 16 state governments to decide for themselves how and when to reopen day care facilities restaurants and hotels social distancing rules are to be extended for another month but members of 2 separate households will now be allowed to meet

large events like concerts and festivals remain banned until the end of the summer . but football fans can look forward to the bundesliga season being allowed to resume in mid may with restrictions. a relief for many parents children will gradually start getting back to schools and kindergartens. it's an almost complete return to normal. and the chancellor said that it's up to germans themselves to make sure the regain freedom works. our political correspondent kate brady is covering this story for us kate germany's coming out of law for the most part what does this say about the state of the pandemic in the country well i'm going macro summarize that quite nicely yesterday in that press conference saying that germany it's safe to say has come through the 1st phase of the pandemic but it is still very much in the early phases of this pandemic and it's something that germany will be facing for

a long time to come so clearly the german government isn't taking the progress and relative success that it's hard so far in getting a grip on the pandemic for granted and so i also have the impression in recent days especially from state premiers and also from the business sector to get things back going in especially in the for the german economy to keep that floating a jury in the condemning and in the aftermath so that has had a huge effect on those decisions that we heard from. yesterday but that the granted that these these restrictions on now relax that's all that's all that all depends on whether people actually in days to the rules that are still in place until june 5th june the 5th is that an old huge risk a that this relaxation of the lockdown will cause a 2nd wave of infections perhaps bigger than the 1st. well that is still

a big concern and something that's being voiced time and time again by the public health institute here in germany the robot cock institute and the president all of that institute said just a couple of days ago in his words that it was with great certainty that a 2nd wave would be on its way and that's something that the german government by that federal and state level are preparing for and i'm glad michael made it very clear yesterday that should the number of new cases new acute cases per day reach a certain threshold then individual states must be prepared to reimplement and reinstate restrictions assimilates as a those that we've seen already talking about those states germany has these 16 federal states they have a lot of freedom and different ways they have freedom in terms of health for and health they go in relaxing restrictions how's that working you know what was seen here is germany's federal system in action of course has advantages and disadvantages to that and so far means that each individual state has effectively

been able to take responsibility for how they relax measures restrictions here in germany and to what extent because of course every state has not been as badly affected as others by 19 but at the same time in the coming weeks there could certainly be a bit more chaos to come especially as people as we look ahead start to travel more around germany so we'll have to see exactly to what extent the state premiers continue to cooperate but it seems where one state premier goes the others seem not so far behind kate thanks so much political correspondent kate brady. and here's a round up of some of the latest pandemic and news around the world poland has postponed the presidential election that was scheduled to take place this sunday the delay comes after all position groups argued that the coronavirus lock down

fair election impossible for the 4th straight time russia has reported a one day increase of more than $10000.00 cases bringing the national total to more than $165000.00 south korea has reported only 2 new cases in 24 hours officials said both were detected during screenings at airports and thailand has confirmed 3 new cases and no deaths. now for a brief look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today a ghastly chemical factory in southeastern india has left at least 9 people dead and up to a 1000. officials in the nearby city of. say styrene escaped from the plant as villagers were sleeping hundreds of people have been hospitalized european union expects to experience the deepest economic recession in its history this year its economy is expected to attract a massive 7.5 percent because of the coronavirus shutdowns and there's no guarantee

that 2021 will see a return to growth. but as mentioned earlier germany's bonus league of football league will resume its season on may 15th behind closed doors the decision makes a bonus later europe's 1st major football league to resume play it will be a kickoff closely watched by professional sports leagues around the world. tennis at wimbledon cancelled 1st time since world war 2. the tokyo olympics postponed until 2021 if it even takes place. the same goes for the cancelled european football championship the list of postpone major sporting events is law top class sport worldwide has come to a standstill. but the german football league is now allowed to start again

the chancellor announced on wednesday the nun the female among other things the topic of shops which cannot open without restriction but of course with the hydrogen concepts will be covered by mass and leisure sports this one is find the 1st and 2nd german football league which will be allowed to run the can sicken from the 2nd toughest may onwards under the approved under tested rules. of the league had their own response to today's decision is good news for the but in this league and the 2nd one is league the clubs and their employees now have a great responsibility to implement the medical and organizational guidelines in a disciplined manner that. the d.f.l. the umbrella organization of the german football league is breaking new ground with the resumption of play

a central component of its concept close mess testing of everyone involved there are to be $20000.00 tests in the next few weeks the 1st wave of testing resulted in 10 positive cases out of more than $700.00 tests there will be strict hygiene in distance rules and of course games without spectators these so-called ghost games are to be played in the 1st and 2nd division and till the end of the season the d.f.l. decided the restart date for german football will be may 15th. well here to talk more about the bundesliga starting up again on may 15th is the reporter pablo the public this is a big step and not without political implications how is it going down in the political realm well as you can imagine terry this is causing a lot of division and in fact if you just listen to some of that what the reactions have been from just within the german parliament or just here in politics in

germany it's quite interesting. now he's a prominent health expert with chancellor merkel's coalition partners at the social democrats he said that it was disappointing and wrong then we had the bavarian state premier because he defended the move and then you know overall what's being said though is it's a compromise of sorts and an interesting it's not just in politics it's even within some of the players who are going to be back out on the pitch in a matter of days and the most prominent of course is the midfielder at burger for states and he actually came out on belgian television last week saying that you know that he had his concerns he ended up backtracking on them but i think the best is if we actually hear now from dagmar freitag now she's from german the german parliament sports committee and she kind of summed up the overall feeling we'll say for this decision. i think um it's a kind of compromise we have to see sports on the one hand and we have to see the

economy economic aspects of the collapse on the other hand and as we all talk about. changes pull. grass roots sports i think the compromise could be ok. the cold from eyes could be ok well it's getting a lot of attention and not just in germany could this decision about germany's professional soccer league have an impact on other sports well it's interesting there is we heard not only the word compromise but also the economic aspect and the economic aspect is not worrying just clubs here in germany but across the world and what's interesting is the d.f.l. german football association says she warned of the financial implications if the games didn't start and that's being echoed across the world what's interesting is we're seeing as well the turkish super league with that's going to resume actually in june the croatians is top league as well it's expected to return and also down

in spain spain one of the most affected countries of course by this coronavirus pandemic they're also they're planning on resuming games in june so you know obviously this decision is being watched closely by leagues across the world of the thank you so much to report a problem. now in the midst of the pandemic couples around the globe are still trying to make their weddings memorable in one german city the mayor is offering a helping hand a wedding made for the big screen. this wedding is going hollywood sort of janine in philip schultz tie the knot at a disorder of drive in theater they guest all in their cars because of the coronavirus only a wedding for 2 was planned but then dollar per word is out. on thursday i was called to see if we would like to from the registry office would carry out the wedding himself and of course we said yes without thinking yes there could be 30

cars we didn't count on that otherwise we could only have celebrated a loan at the registry office. the cars on decorated in the colors of the bundesliga club for 2 men dusseldorf a wish of the newlyweds they're big fans then things got serious by now i mean my name is thomas gazal i am the master of the city of dusseldorf as my main job i know guillory register as a part time job this is an activity of particularly enjoy doing. he said again in market the muffled sound from the car radios the separating plexiglas it doesn't matter if it takes the spotlight away from the romance movies do you know how legally connected spouses by law i mean you. guess congratulate the happy couple with a concept of be taken from behind the wheel perfect with the horns you know exactly great feeling it couldn't be nicer. and overjoyed bride and groom no virus in the

world could change that. if. you're watching t w news don't forget you get all the latest news and information around the clock on our website that steve w. dot com and you can find us on twitter and instagram d w news i'm terry martin thanks for watching. combating the corona pandemic. where does research stand. what are scientists learning. background information and news. our corona update. covert 19 special next on d w. europe and the end of world war 2. 1945.