caution from germans as the country reopens and let's bring back our a political correspondent kate brady now who has been listening into this for us hi kate we heard the chance are facing some critical questions or particularly from the far right on the economic measures what's your impression how broadly do lawmakers support the steps that her government has taken. largest speak in there has been a lot of support where the criticism comes in really is on this matter of restrictions of both when it comes to when those restrictions were imposed and how those restrictions are being eased as well and one of the most contentious issues that we have been addressed just now as well is idea this is this idea of an emergency break so the idea was that last week angela merkel agreed with the state premiers of germany 16 states that if a specific district reported more than 50 new cases per 100000 inhabitants over the last 7 days then the response or an appropriate response would be necessary from the states and so what we've seen is some districts in germany now postponing the relaxation of measu

and we're back now with kate brady kate you know we saw some of the measures there that germany has been undertaking in order to try and control this corona virus pandemic especially the threat of a 2nd wave how well prepared is the country well right now germany's quite well prepared in the case that there should be a 2nd wave of coronavirus here and as we've seen already in the last couple of months and the country is actually benefited quite well from the fact that it had quite a bloated health system going into this pandemic something that's previously been criticized and that will called even to close down some regional hospitals but of course that's helped germany making sure that it's hospitals didn't become overcrowded and of course in addition to that you also had that testing going on and as we had there in the reports as well there already plans in place to increase that capacity even further so that there would be the opportunity to make sure that all medical professionals were able to be tested should there be a 2nd wave and of course that something is still continuing in th

s political correspondent kate brady who has more information for us on that story kate this is not the only outbreak linked to a meat processing plant in germany walk why have these facilities become coronavirus hotspots. well of course i imagine that the close working courses and living quarters that many of these workers find themselves in will have played a huge role in how these slaughterhouses have indeed as you say become hot spots of the 19 fires and as such and close felde in north rhine-westphalia that slaughterhouse a particular has now being closed and we're also expecting to see some checks on the hygiene standards both at the slaughterhouse and at accommodation for those workers in the coming days and in the meantime there will also be widespread testing in north rhine-westphalia that's the state where close felde lies and that's going to involve some 17220000 workers who are currently working in the slaughterhouses across that state the district of course thought it has no delay the loosening of lockdown restrictions in line with so-called emergency brake. earlier this we

and political correspondent kate brady joins us now for more kate the e.u. wants to transition from lock downs for summer tourist season as we've heard it seems like a lot to ask. it certainly is and it's going to be a huge logistical operation that's going to require a lot of cooperation at the european level so we're going to see lots of cooperation between those different e.u. member states and we could see measures being rolled out across the board or at least agreed on as well when it comes to how and to what extent people travel in the coming weeks and months to take killing as we head towards the summer months and so we can expect for example to see perhaps max masks being made obligatory both on planes and at airports and it's likely to that the number of guests for tells and tours attractions will be limited as well to ensure that social distancing is still a did too and that people have been able to to keep that minimum recommended distance of 1.5 meters from each other on top of that as well the e.u. commission has already recommended that travel

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 da

let's bring in political correspondent kate brady who is standing by with a view from berlin so kate as we've heard the e.u. wants to transition from lockdowns to summer tourist season it seems like a lot to ask. it is certainly a lot to ask and of course there are still a lot of factors to take into consideration at the moment but only the situation in germany but also in germany's neighboring countries as well and how the situation then developed in the coming weeks but the hope is now is to have freedom of travel again throughout the schengen zone by mid june of course the old depends on the situation with the virus at the time and of course it's going to be very difficult a logistical puzzle to solve as well and one that's going to need a lot of cooperation within the european union now the e.u. commission has already started making some recommendations and it seems that if and when tourism really does kick start again here in europe then where of course expecting to see limitations on the number of guests that might be allowed it at certain hotels certainly social distancing rul

correspondent kate brady is one of those out in central berlin the softer noon what can you run. by people where you are hating social distancing rules. exactly and so on today i mean one of the parks in east and then here and it seems for the large part most people are still a daring to the restrictions that are still in place on social contact making sure that people are keeping at least 1.5 metres apart from people not from their households and just anecdotally speaking from this afternoon it seems that a lot of people are now starting to meet with of the households i've seen several small groups meeting at a distance at other sides of the picnic blankets and a lot of people are out in different sports together exercising as well and that's something we're expecting to see increasingly in the coming days as most of germany 16 states will start to open more gastronomy cafes restaurants as well but of course there are still social distancing restrictions in place as well as that. to wear masks both in shops and on public transport. we've heard a lot about how the lockdown has te

position of his and even money in before the good or let's bring in our political correspondent kate brady for more on this story hi kate we heard the chance are there talking about that very difficult balance between controlling the virus on one hand and also easing restrictions on the other does the government have broad support across parliament for its measures. oh the certainly been the logic gap between different parliamentary groups in the last week or so when it comes to specifically the easing or relaxation of restrictions in germany and a lot of that comes down to this rather contentious issue of this emergency break which was decided on the last week between ungrammatical and the state premiers which means that if a district in germany reports more than 50 new cases per 100000 inhabitants over the past week then action appropriate action needs to be taken so we have seen some place in germany that have put on hold the easing of restrictions there because that has a not now knock on effect on the local industry so going forward this will be something that the government of both f

our political correspondent kate brady is covering this story for us kate many here in germany are hoping the government today will announce a further relaxation of lockdown restrictions what can we expect. they seem that certainly will be the case later today there's already been a draft paper doing the rounds here in among the german media this morning and some of the main points that we're likely to see relaxations on today are shops the reopening of shops nationwide regardless of the size so far that's been limited to small shops of up to $800.00 metres square so it looks like they will be reopened albeit of course on the condition that social distancing measures are upheld by customers and staff also we're likely to see the reopening of schools a gradual reopening of schools for all students by the sum of break interestingly though it seems that it will be up to the individual states to decide whether things like hotels bars restaurants and universities will re-open and to what extent of course it seems that all of these relaxation is willing to be on the condition that the number of

our political correspondent kate brady is covering this story for us kate many here in germany are hoping the government today will announce further easing of law of the law what can we expect . certainly does seem that we'll see another easing of those restrictions today at least according to a draft paper that we've been doing the rounds here in germany this morning it looks as though from maybe as early as the next couple of weeks all shops in germany could open regardless of the size of a city that's something that's been limited so far to the size of the store and if they are indeed to open they will still have to make sure that customers and workers a daring to social distancing rules we could also see all school students returning to school before the summer break here in germany but it seems that it will be up to the states the individual 16 states to decide when and to what extent places like restaurants universities and also their says are opened and it seems as well that all of these easing of restrictions are limited regarding the increase of new cases in germany should there

or more before groom our political correspondent kate brady is following the story for us hi kate give us the latest on this announcement. well that press conference where these measures are being announced is just coming to an end right now a lot of the details still being questioned but what we know so far is that indeed as you say there will be a relaxed border checks the in the coming days out of the 15th of may with friends austria and switzerland but there will still be some checks in place but with look some back however all of the border controls are being lifted and we can expect to see a similar situation with denmark as well for the german interior minister said that that would most likely be possible once denmark has finished its talks with its of the neighboring countries as well so suddenly started to see the next phase an easing of restrictions here when it comes to border controls in which of course have been in place for almost 2 months now in in response to the pandemic kate what does this concretely mean for germans who want to leave the country to go on vacation for

for more on that story let's talk to do to abuse it kate brady kate thanks for joining us kate is there a growing movement that we're seeing taking place here. well certainly since just a few weeks ago we've seen these number of people attending these demonstrations which are often dumped as high g. demonstrations growing from just a few dozen people in the german capital to the thousands that we've seen in several german cities today but it is worth noting of course that is people still are a minority and at several local establishment several local businesses close to where these demonstrations have been taking place there will also be holding a sense of of counterparts as a kind of counter protest against these demonstrations but in placards and posters in the window saying we're not going to stage we're not your background your backdrop sorry and one thing that we could be seeing here by these protesters is something that one of the leading for all ages here in germany christian to us that he's been helping deal with the pandemic here in germany he were very few weeks ago to a preve

well for more on this let's bring in kate brady so kate it seems like quite a lot of people turning up to these demonstrations what are they so angry about which restrictions do they object to the most. but it seems that these protesters are effectively accusing the medical workers and politicians here in germany of spreading widespread panic and also infringing their freedoms and their rights to the down measures if you will in recent weeks of course germany hadn't seen quite as strict lock down measures as some other countries but there are still contacts restrictions in place albeit there are plans in place now to ease those in the coming weeks depending on how that reproduction rate that you mentioned that developed which of course we now know is above $1.00 and also depending on how the number of new cases grows or declines or whether we'll see that plateau in the coming weeks but it does seem it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what unites these groups there's a real mix spread of people there from everyday citizens to the extremes of germany's political spectrum with people from

start an hour ago about the lifting of restrictions on german public life meanwhile let's bring in kate brady our political correspondent who's been waiting with me for that to happen kate we do know that something some things have have leaks what can you tell us about what we can expect. well one thing thing that certainly has leaked within the last hour or so is the tension apparently that seems to have been going round to this telephone conference this afternoon between angela merkel and the 16 state premiers so that might be one indication as to why a we are now as you say almost an hour behind to waiting for this press conference of course many many issues to discuss during that telephone conference today in terms of what restrictions should be eased and to what extent but it does seem that a lot of responsibility is going to be officially handed to the states of course germany has a federal political system as it is but so far anger merkel has been calling on the 16 states to take a united response where possible in terms of restrictions to try and limit the spread of 19 but it seems as

virus infection rate remains under control and that's one of the problems political correspondent kate brady is covering this story for us kate jon is infectious disease agency the robot that caught institute has just this morning warns that could be a 2nd wave before autumn how to start factor into the government plans. well it certainly plays a huge role in the government's plans right now and something that they will be keeping an eye on both at state and federal level as the restrictions are east across germany and as you say the robert cole institute confirmed as well as today that of reproduction rate in germany now has fall into north point $65.00 but at the same time the vice president of the situ said that this is not a signal that germany has the all clear and right now as angela merkel has said on several occasions until there is a vaccine created 19 is very much going to be present in german life and in this new normal but germans are now going to be getting new c. as a restrictions that eased on public life. yeah this new normal while many businesses are being given the green li

restrictions that we've seen over the past few weeks are going to stop being eased our correspondent kate brady them thank you very much and that's it from me and the news team here in berlin i'm gadol 1st author a small break d.w. business with money cudjoe so don't go away. in the light of climate change. africa's main city. what's in store. for the future in the. context for the major cities to the multimedia insight. into. europe and the end of world war 2. 1945 brought an end to the destruction suffering and death. and to mark a new beginning of european cooperation. d.w. celebrates the 75th anniversary of the end of the 2nd floor in europe today t w. in the. it's a time of negative records for the world's leading economies germany's exports record to shop just monthly drop on record and the unemployment rate in the united states hits levels not seen since world war 2. also coming up as italy slowly emerges from its months long lockdown jewelers in florence have little to celebrate . what comes to your business i want to get johnson berlin good to have you with us in these trying times hit

questions about her government's response let's talk about that 1st with our political correspondent kate brady who is following the latest for us kate i get to see you what do we expect to see from the chancellor to hear from the chancellor and from lawmakers today. whether of course at the center of this hour of questions we're expecting to see the corona virus pandemic and the german governments our reactions to that in the in the previous 8 weeks or so here in germany of course there's all sorts of different aspects that we expect a chance language machall to be questioned on of course those rather controversial shutdown measures as well and the timing of which restrictions were imposed and also the timing of which restrictions were east here in germany on top of that i don't doubt that they'll also be questions about the responsibility of germany 16 states and what role they play in the easing of restrictions and of course looking ahead to the coming months if not years as well how the german government intends to actually cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic so it's cer

cases fluctuates and that all important reproduction rate fluctuates in the coming days in berlin kate brady thank you so much. south korea's president has urged people not to lower their god in the battle against the corona virus this comes off to south korea reported 34 new cases of coded 19 in just one day said the country needed to brace for a 2nd why of the pandemic the country has been widely praised for can timing its corona virus outbreak and last week began easing restrictions. the fun didn't last long. this is one of the 3 clubs a 29 year old man visited before testing positive for corbett 19 so far more than 2 dozen cases have been linked to nightclubs in the e.t.o. one district in seoul authorities i currently tracking thousands of people who visited any of the clubs the sole mayor quickly put the lockdown brakes on. the city of seoul issues in order immediately prohibiting gatherings in all entertainment facilities including night clubs and clubs like boss and hostess. from this moment such facilities have to suspend their business and will face strict punishment if they breach

we have correspondent kate brady what's behind the protesters anger but it seems to be the people of protesting at these demonstrations against what they describe as the. friendship and all that right because people have being limited to the amounts of people that they could be meeting and also the economics to shut down a good many businesses have been close temporarily if not full blown check recently but it didn't seem pinpoint exactly what unites these groups. these protesters also be not holocaust in my eyes and conspiracy theories as well and anti-vaccination groups who have been a driven recently as well by these conspiracy theories particularly those surrounding the microsoft founder bill gates and the conspiracy theory that he is developing some kind of digital citizen could be implanted in the human body so there's all sorts of different groups of people here for right across the political spectrum so it is difficult still to confront exactly what unites these groups and come from a general mistrust of all politicians and also of the mainstream politics and mainstream media

political correspondent kate brady is covering the story for us many in germany are hoping the government today will announce a further easing of the lockdown what are we expect. certainly is the hope of many people and those hopes might be fulfilled especially if this draft document that's been doing the rounds here in germany today approved to be true as the many relaxed restrictions listed in this draft document including the opening of all shops across germany of course so far they've been limited to smaller shops up to the size of $800.00 metres square so we could see all shops are reopening of course as long as people are still a daring to social distancing measures in place in germany and it's also expected that we'll see measures to ensure that all school children actually return to school by the sum of break but it seems that there's a there are some national efforts that are going to be made but also at state level it seems that individual states will be responsible for ensuring or deciding rather whether the restaurants universities and bases will be indeed be reopened to what

our political correspondent kate brady joins me for more on this kid germany and other e.u. countries see this as a lifeline to the tourism industry but the coronavirus will still be around this summer so what are the troubled look like. it certainly will be and the extent to which travel is even allowed will certainly depend on the situation that not only germany but also neighboring member states find themselves in in the coming weeks especially as we head towards there are some of months and in the school holidays but of course travel will look very different the so much should it go ahead we can expect for example to see masks being made obligatory all wearing of must be made compulsory on both planes and in. and it's also likely that the number of guests her tells and the tourist attractions as well will be limited to a much smaller number than usual to ensure that social distancing measures can still be a did to make sure that people can keep minimum recommended distance of $1.00 metres from each other and on top of that as well we've already heard some advice from the

that it will do whatever it takes to keep the german economy going ok thank you very much knows kate brady our parliamentary studio. german flag carrier lift is also desperately seeking help from the government in the form of a bailout but it's pleading with berlin not to involve itself in the airline's management and business operations we got into this crisis through no fault of our own said c.e.o. cautions boy of times as annual shareholder meeting which was conducted all mine it's or argues that the company's management and strategy are salted pointing to 2019 as a year with record passenger numbers and record revenues and government rescue package for the airline could be worth 10000000000 euros according to the most recent discussion. here's of round up of some of the latest pandemic news german state premiers are expected to approve a plan to allow all shops are reopening to get bonus leah's soccer going again with new zealand reporting no new cases for a 2nd straight day prime minister just send are down phoned in to an all straggly in cabinet meeting to discuss reopening borders b

and get their economy back up and running again ok thank you so much t w political correspondent kate brady another much anticipated cision here in germany is whether the but his latest soccer season can resume play albeit behind closed doors that's also a pretty scutcheon today we'll bring you live coverage of the german government's press conference hopefully addressing that subject as well later today. his round up of some of the latest pandemic news a virus has forced indonesia to postpone regional elections slated for september will now be held in december at the earliest south korea reported only 2 new cases of carbon 19 officials said both were detected during screening airports or no new local transmissions white house is set to disband the task force responsible for the penn demick by early june president trump said coordination of the u.s. response was moving into a new phase focusing on the aftermath of the outbreak brazil posted a daily record of 600 deaths a further sign that the nation is still in the thick of its battle against cove it 19. india has seen its biggest single da

or let's go to correspondent kate brady who's standing by kate the chancellor's press conference has been delayed for half an hour is that an indication that negotiations are actually quite tough. oh certainly i mean they have plenty to be discussing today 'd whether it's exactly how the different states have been behaving inches say in the last few days taking matters into their own hands and already announcing that some restrictions in some states would be relaxed before other states and then on top of that of course there's a lot of intricate details to be discussed here to in and then we might even see of course on top of that a decision about the bunda sleeker as well plenty of football fans around that table i presume as well today among the politicians or rather on that video call with machall because no one's around the table at the moment so they'll be a lot of things to discuss and we're expecting to hear from merkel within the next few minutes but already as we've mentioned there has been a draft document doing the rounds today here in germany where are expecting to see a

restrictions on public life here in germany let's speak again with our political correspondent kate brady who has listened in to that whole conference they've run us through some of the details what are the main points for you. well i think actually one of the main points aside from the actual relaxation of some restrictions is what machall german chancellor said in opening sentences really saying that it's fair to say by this point that the 1st phase of the pandemic is behind to germany but she did and that we are still very much in the early phases in this is very much a reiteration of this cautious stance that we've seen from merkel in recent weeks still very much aware that there could still be another wave of the coronavirus to come something which experts are still warning of and of course is a risk that comes with relaxing restrictions that have been place in place in germany for several weeks now but let's have a look at exactly what those relaxations an easing of restrictions might mean well we know now that shops nationwide can be reopened granted they have to be rather shop own

more now joined by political correspondent kate brady kate germany's health minister has his doubts about whether a vaccine will be available soon yet the u.s. is raising funds to try to speed up vaccine development why is the german minister so pessimistic. i don't know if you pessimism because what we're seeing over the hearing from spawn in those comments and in previous weeks is this very cautious tone something that we've heard from machall herself it's a very cautious plan of action that germany has been taking and that flows into all of the measures that germany is taking right now in terms of relaxing the lockdown here in germany or the partial shutdown and also in terms of how we move forward by economically and also in terms of developing a vaccine as well so this is very much in line with how germany has been tackling the carvin 1800 mks so far very cautious and this really was a racer ation from what we've heard from trans langley macas well who as we just heard said to you that the the process does need to be quick in this case of course this is an unprecedented situation in

of a more on this let's bring in the political correspondent kate brady kate what are the chances that german car makers will receive state aid. well we're not actually expecting to see any great big announcements coming out of that telephone conference today instead it seems that today will be a chance to put proposals on the table and to discuss what might be possible in the coming months as hopefully at least in terms of the car industry their hope is that more people will return to their 2 car dealerships in the coming weeks now that many stores of reopened on monday but they are expecting at least a boost from the german government that's what they're demanding and one of their main demands is incentives for bae is one of the proposals being that we could see some incentives of anywhere between $3.40 euros for customers depending on what kind of car vehicle they would be purchasing and so on top of that we could also even see a scrappage scheme that something not quite entirely new to germany that mechanism was used almost a decade ago now in the aftermath of the financial crisis

that to begin we'll bring that to you live of course let's hear from the political correspondent kate brady kate many in germany are hoping the government today will announce a further easing a significant is in of the lockdown as anything when leaked yet. well there has been a draft document that's been doing the rounds all day here today in germany with some very interesting information regarding the possible relaxation of some restrictions here in germany one important point regards the shops here in germany as are it's expected that all shops will soon be allowed to reopen regardless of their size so far only shops up to a maximum size of $800.00 metres square have been able to reopen of course with social distancing measures in place which will of course still be a requirement when shops reopen on top of that we're also expecting to see all school children return to school in germany by the summer break again on the condition that strict hygiene rules are followed and that social distancing can be up kept already earlier this week in many states small groups of school leavers both at e

gerhard: our correspondent kate brady.ace to find a vaccine against covid-19 is gaining pace in south africa. hundreds of health workers are given a century old tumor does this vaccine to see if it can protect against coronavirus trials. also underway in other places. this could be a vital weapon against the virus. >> it is just a small puncture, but it could make a huge impact on tackling the covid-19 pandemic. that is thee hope of researcrchs who began a vaccination trial in cape town. the team leader wants to investigate whether the tuberculosis vaccine bcg can reduce t severity y of coronarurus related symptoms. researchers have experienced positive so-called nonspecific effects of bcg in the past. >> babies, adolescents, elderly, there have been a reduction in the number of respiratory trtrat infections in individuals who receive this bcg vaccine versus those who don't. there is a very interesting nonspecific effect. >> in order to investigate this further, 500 health care workers will receiveve a shot in the comiming

a political correspondent kate brady is covering this story for us kate germany is coming out of the law for the most part what does this say about where the penn demick is right now in germany well i'm going so summarize that quite simply yesterday in that press conference saying that it's safe to say the 1st phase of this pandemic is now behind germany but that we are here in germany still in the early phases in the fight against this virus and that it will be something that germany still has to tackle for a long time to come but of course there was a lot of pressure growing in recent days both from the business sector and also from those state premiers of the 16 states say in germany to ease restrictions and in the end of that pressure had a huge effect on the results of those talks yesterday and the relaxed measures that we're expecting to see put in place in the next couple of days but let's not forget all of these relaxations are in the conditions on the condition that social distancing is still a did too and german people here are expected to still follow those rules and anglo