♪ >> this is dw news. france inches of one of europe's strictest lockdowns. paris losing face masks. most shops and businesses are reopening but some restrictions will remain. also on the program. british prime minister boris johnson details his governments plan to loosen the lockdown in england. an address that was criticized as confusing.

germany fights a flareup of infections as it loosens lockdown restrictions. and frustration builds in some areas over the government's handling of the crisis. east africa battles the pandemic and the plague. locusts are devastating crops. experts warn the second wave poses an unprecedented threat to food security. ♪ >> welcome to the program. france has begun to lift its coronavirus lockdown after eight weeks of restrictions. people are allowed to leave theirs homes without a permit and most shops and businesses will reopen. many children will soon return to school. with 26,000 fatalities, france has the world's fifth highest death toll. >> the streets of paris are

starting to look like their usual crowded selves. after eight weeks on lockdown, fresh citizens are venturing out again. it has been a cautious reopening. with most shops welcoming customers and many people returning to work. >> i think it is risky for the population but costs are rising for companies so we need to go back to work. >> i am not afraid. everything should be fined if people respect the distancing rules. i took the metro this morning and people were cautious. >> traffic on the paris metro is lighter than normal. masks are now mamandatory on all pupublic transport. anand sciencece -- signs

advise commuters. people can travel 100 kilometers without filling out a form. although the path forward d for children and teachers remains tentative. >> we will see if it works. the recess hours, how we will take in the children, can the parents enter the school, will they wear masks, what we do have children are sick? there are a lot of questions. >> the looser restrictions are based on encouraging numbers. including a decline in daily coronavirus deaths. authorities warn that restrictions could be reimposed if necessary. the hope is that prudence will be enough to further reduce the spread of the virus. allowing france to continue on its road to recovery. >> dw correspondent lisa louis

gave her her assessment of the first day with fewer restrictions. >> smoothly. according to recent polls, 2/3 of the french are worried about the lifting of restrictions. most of the public transport network was not at cracking point. there were only a few people taking the metro and trains. there were some exceptions. online 13 which links the department to the center of paris and met where many people have to go back to work. there was a technical problem this morning. that is why the first few trains were packed. apart from that, most trains were empty. people have been reporting the were only a few people taking trains and most of them were faring -- wearing masks and trying to keep a distance from each other. >> lisa louis in paris pic across the english channel,

boris johnson has published his plan for easing the lockdown. it includes a call for people to wear face masks and sets out necessary conditions for a gradual reopening of schools and businesses. today's details are full of sunday's -- follows sunday's national address that prompted criticism. >> should they stay or should they go? boris johnson has replaced the nation's stay alert message. the rebranding comes as johnson tries to sell britain's on his plans to ease the lockdown. but trying to balance free while pushing people to return to work has proven confusing. >> i just -- boris johnson had a greatpportunityty t to give a sense of directionon, even to s, look, we a n not sure ofof next steps. we are working on them. instead it came off veryry mode. >> it raised more e questions tn

it did ansnswers. what the country needs right now is true e leadership. what boris johnson delivered last night was not that. >> johnson second shot at outlining his latest plans for the nation came before the house of commons on monday. >> our challenge is to find a way for that preserves our hard-won gains while in the burden of the lockdown. i will be candid. this is a difficult balance to strike. >> his roadmap for the country sets out a three stage approach to end the lockdown beginning wednesday with the relaxation on outdoor exercise. he is encouraging the healthy to go back to work. non-essential shops and schools for some students will reopen in june if there are no new spikes in numbers. the gradual reopenining of restaurants and bars and other businesses is planned for july. if the data supports it.

the u.k. has the world second-highest covid-19 death toll. johnson fearars if he does notot this rightht, a second wave of e infection would have a heavy human cost. >> let's take a brief look at other coronavirus related ststories. we start in russia where the president vladimir putin assessed -- says the country's economic shutdown will end tomorrow. he says it will be for regional authority to decide which companies can open and who can return to work. saudi arabia has announced another cut in oil production. the energy ministry ordering aramco to make an additional cut of one million barrels a day next months. global oil demand has slumped by 1/3. shanghai disneyland is the first disney resort in the world to reopen under strict conditions.

visitors have to show a health certificate to get in. the crisis has hit disney hard with being part closures sla shing income by 1.3 billion eurozone the first quarter. the world health organization has expressed hope that germany can get a recent flareup of fires infections under control. the country has been scrambling to contain outbreaks. health officials are keeping a watchful eye on the recent uptick in the country's infection rate. as germany walks a tricky path towards reopening the economy. >> racing has become the name of the game in germany. now angela merkel is waiting to see the effects of gradually easing restrictions in recent weeks. >> it is important to me to once again draw attention to the fact

that we are now and the new face of the pandemic. it will now be necessary in easing restrictions that we ensure safety. following the basic requirements. that means keeping our distance, wearing mouse than those coverings and having consideration for others. that is very important. >> clusters of new infections, some linked to meat processing plants have emerged. that has pushed new cases in those areas above the maximum agreed by merkel and government leaders. and put the brake on easing restrictions locally. elsewhere in germany, there are signs of returning to normalcy as many businesses reopen. on the streets mother minority is getting louder. thousands demonstrated accusing politicians of infringing their rights. concerns are growing the protests are being used as a platform for conspiracy

theorists and far right extremists. >> her claims, stereotypes and theories that will result in a scapegoat or world of filling who is supposed to be pulling all the strings. -- a world villain. people want to steer up -- stir up conspiracy theories. anyone spread something like this was to divide our country and turn people against each other. >> monday saw the opening of berlin's treatment center. weeks later than planned. the hope is that beds here will stay a team when the effects of easing become clear. >> i spoke with her political correspondent and asked her how concerned health authorities in germany are about the increase in the infection rate. >> this rate has been fluctuating up and down over the past few weeks. at 1.07 at the moment does not mean the hospitals would reach

full capacity or be overwhelmed. what it means is that every 100 infected people would in fact another 100. what is of concern is that if that number keeps increasing, and it will as the loosening of restrictions means more social interactions, we might face new outbreaks such as the cases in nursing homes and in slaughterhouses. >> what is the political climate here in germany? our opposition politicians behind the government's handling of this pandemic? >> on the one hand we have the social democrats and conservatives who show a united front at the moment but if you look at other political factions in the first opposition party on the far right, for example, they have been up in arms against restrictions, shops being closed, writes limited because of social distancing.

-- social rights limited. the liberals are all -- not the biggest promoters of the measures implemented with the vice president of the german parliament talking about massive restrictions against fundamental rights. with leaders being handing over the decision-making for the restrictions, there will be differences in how the crisis is handled handling each of the german regions. >> the reports we just saw mentioned a number of protests against lockdowns. how representative are they of public opinion? >> there is a concern within german society that fundamental rights could be stomped upon. that issue is being taken seriously. and taken into account in decision-making. and across the political spectrum. within german society, there seems to be an antagonism between conspiracy theories,

anti-vaccination and the majority of germans. 80% of germans are happy about how the crisis is handled. many wearing masks, not only in public transport but in the streets. and they are happy to work from home. the majority are concerned when they hear that thousands of people gathered to protest without respecting social distancing. >> our political cororresponond. more countries begin to ease coronavirus lockdown measures, some governments are making the wearing of face masks mandatory. for many it is taking getting used to. for the deaf community, with mouths covered meaeans they cant understandnd what is being said. >> when the indonesian government made wearing mask mandatory, faisal wowould make life hard. born completely deaf she relies

on lipreading. so the professional seamstress took matters into her own hands. >> i made normal masks at the start. but then i tried to make the masks with the clear windows. i thought it would be difficult to make the masks with windows. but after a few tries, they turned out to be nice and useful. >> the switch proved fruitful. she and her husband have sold more than 200 of the window masks and have begun supplying buyers across the country. reviews have so far been positive. >> with ordinary masks, people with heaearing loss cacan only s what one is trying to say. because ththey cannot see our ls move. i have many friends with hearing

loss. this innovation is very helpful. >> a sentiment being echoed around the world. in belgium, these students are calling for transparent face masks to be readily available. they also want them to be used widely within the community. they say it is not enough simply for deaf people to wear them. >> in the current situation with coronavirus, there are salespeople at the post office or at the pharmacy who have masks. the problem is accessibility when it comes to deaf people. we need more people to wear transparent masks. >> for the hearing impaired, masks can add to the anxiety of living through a pandemic. as they look set to become the new normal, at least for a while, many in the deaf community hope they will become more inclusive. >> dr. joseph j murray is

president of the world federation of the deaf. we asked them how they are coping with pandemic. [no audio]

>> that is dr. joseph dave murray. this is news. still to come, couples are finding new ways to tie the knot despite lockdown restrictions. we take a look at our people in real making their commitments official in these unusual times. the canyon where a second wave of locust has dissented on east africa. the swarms could be 20 times worse than those that hit the region two months ago.

they pose an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods. >> this is home for the tribe. since recently millions of locus. the terrain is difficult but trackers working for the u.n. only have two helicopters. locals often go by foot. >> retract the places not accessible by road. in the valleys. >> swarms can engulf hectares of land. as they either body weight each day, swarms devour everything in their path. the world bank warns that the horn of africa could lose more than 7 billion bureaus worth of crops. crops like moses tomatoes. >> i do not know whether god will send us any angels. we farmers have been totally written off.

it is obvious were being wiped out. regular rainfall has been contributing to the explosive -- explosion of the population. and the pandemic is slowing down the fight against this infestation. >> we are getting them from -- and what you have is if our government has locked down everything, transport, then you have a very slow movement. >> the u.n. feeds 20 million people in the region. but is now warning twice that many could be threatened with hunger. >> we can get more from our correspondent in nairobi. welcome. the swarm has wreaked devastation despite being monitored and predictions made months ago. >> yes, it has.

this is the second wave of locus that has come now in may. there might be another wave of locus in july andnd july. part of f the reason whyhy thiss is b because partly the governments reacted too late when the initial swarms came. and then they were also very, ununprepared, very little equipment to only a couple of airplanes to do aerial spraying. third, ththe climatic condition. we are in the raising -- rainy season. but it has been raining since december. this has made the perfect breeding ground for locusts. >> authorities are pinning their hopes on the idea the swarms will update by june or july. how realistic is that? >> yes, that is the hope,

because june and july is the next big harvest. but there are couple of challenges to that. partly, it is a regional problem. if you fight the locusts in one part, one regioion, they might migrate back from another part. if kenya and ethiopia fight the locus invasion, they might come back from somalia where they can do little about it because of the conflict there. then, also, the government is also dealing with the corona pandemic, which has as we heard before, has had an impact on logistics and getting pesticide and equipment into the country and to the regions affected. >> what now needs to happen to avert a major food crisis in eastern africa? >> the u.n.'s food and

agriculture organization has called for $153 million which they say they need to respond to the crisis in the regions affected by the locusts invasion. that is eastern africa and parts of asia and the arabian peninsula. they have 70% of that budget. hopefully that will prevent the worse. otherwise, there is also a lot happening with in terms of trying to prevent food insecurity due to corona outbreak in the economic downturn in the countries. hopefully, they will be able to combine these efforts and basically feed people who have either lost their crops or do not have enough money to buy them anymore at the moment. >> thank you for that. in nairobi.

let's take a look at some other stories making headlines around the world. we start in iraq with me new protest days after the appointment of a new prime minister. demonstration first erupted last year. one of the first acts in office was to order the release of antigovernment protesters from prison. iran's state minister says that a missile launch till 19 sailors aboard a warship. the friendly fire was reported in the gulf of oman. to brazil where the coronavirus pandemic has prompted civil servants to get creative with the services they offer grooms and brides, many of whom are deciding not to wait for the pandemic to pass before saying "i do."

>> the beaches may be closed off but life goes on. today, this car is their wedding coach. they are on their way to their wedding. but they do not plan on getting out of the car. the civil servant comes out to meet them. the registry office offers driving service. anand yes they l love each othet they would not have gotten married so quickly if it were not for the coronavirus. they had planned on waiting a few years. >> i am a nurse and i work with patients every day. i could die. i want to get married now to make our partnership legal. >> one last look at the papers. ok. their registrar had his own notary for a few years. according to law, he can perform marriages. when demand remains steady after the virus hits he came up with the idea of driving weddings. >> a lot of couples a are too scareded to come to the regist's office during the pandemic.

they feel a lot safer in their cars. i decided to do the services with gloves and masks. >> performing marriages is a nice change from his usual work which at the moment is processing death certificates. the marriage certificate is finished. after six years living together, they felt they were ready to commit for life. they sealed the deal with signatures. love is in the air. in the car. brazil has been very hard hit by the pandemic. natalia is angry that the president axis of the crisis were not serious. >> i do not agree with bolsonaro. social distancing is important. you have to kick the crisis seriously because people are dying. you cannot boost the economy with dead people. >> now they are man and wife legally. they exchange rings, and now

their first kiss as a married couple. even the coronavirus cannot stop tradition. after the pandemic has passed, they will have a big party and celebrate with their whole family but for now, they are happy with her humble driving wedding. >> $1 million, that is a start bid for the guitar played by kurt cobain during the band unplugged concert in 1993. it is one of several items of kurt cobain memorabilia being auctioned off next months in beverly hills. including a set list from the same show. kurt cobain killed himself at the age of 27 after nirvana got into fame on the back of the album never mind. here is a reminder of our top story. france has begun to ease the coronavirus lockdown.

people are allowed to visit shops and get their hair cut. some areas including paris have declared red zone's and are subject to tighter restrictions. >> germany is moderating the infection rate. as they fight to control the flareup in infections linked to meatpacking plants. dw news. i will be back in a few moments with "the day" have a good day.

the card is a daily life in france screech back into action as the two month lockdown is partitially liftfted the government warns that if the carpet nineteen pandemic resumes its wild race restrictions will l be brought baback in. across the country some lessons a are resuming in schools high streets are b back open f for business and workers are r returning to their desks we'll have more e om business i did sir what these changes memean. for francis bruised economy. and the british government put some meat on the bones of its lockdown easing plans boris johnson is the