outbreak here in germany is highly regional you see individual hotspots basically bavaria north rhine-westphalia that also comes down to individual events like the carnival for instance which led to one small region being particularly affected becoming essentially germany's who hunt so it's only natural that results or it is have to act very differently according to what the level of infections is at the same time there is limited power from the central government and although we seem to be only talking about the corona crisis and the current $1000.00 infections now in german politics in the back there is a backdrop of political contest going on and that is namely between those who wish to follow in the footsteps of angela merkel as future chancellor can do it within her own party hope posse has been boosted in the approval ratings under the magical pusley has as well but she doesn't want to stand again for reelection and those the likes of mark will soon the variance states of premier but also the stem state premier of north rhine-westphalia are quite happy to be quoted in the media right now s

that also includes car dealerships libraries as well but there are plans in some states like north rhine-westphalia in western germany for example that want to open dues as well a lot of shopping malls and so there is concern there from other states that we that that could lead to an increase in cases again if people start to become careless which is what was being we were hearing from angela merkel just within the last hour when she was reiterating again that now is a time for caution and not to become careless in the main reasoning ready for this relaxation was i think in part a sense of morale building for people and of course they could see as well from the statistics of being released here in germany that the did in seem at least to be flattening in the last week or so here in germany but of course there is also that effort here in germany and that needs to try and reopen some stores and many small businesses want to get back to business and want to start getting customers back to their stores but as i say this is very different from state to state at the moment and that of course is cause som

fair to say that each region hasn't been seeing eye to eye in that regard for example in north rhine-westphalia which is the west affected region in germany to minister of education saying that she wanted schools to reopen right after the easter holidays so as to not penalize people as students having exams to pass on the other hand. i mean it's our president our very our say that for him and to him it was very unlikely that we would see a reopening of schools anytime soon. he actually contradicts what has been advised by the national academy of sciences which actually recommended a progressive a gradual reopening of schools here in germany so all those matters and it's special to the reopening of schools and other ways of social they stand saying it will be discussed these afternoon between the chancellor at the federal level and the head of the heads of each. original state east german state to see hard as measures can be implemented ok and what about public sentiment what do people in germany want. well interesting me more than half of the german population actually easier favorable to furth

that was her address in particular the state premiers here in germany where the one hand in north rhine-westphalia we have a state premier wanting to see fast easing of restrictions a past to the return to normal and the very you have a much much tougher stance on that partly also because bavaria borders all stria and that's believed where a lot of the infections came from so she's has a cautioning words at the same time saying that this is the moment for europe to stand together. while she also spoke about the economic impact and how best to get europe through the crisis what did you say on that front. well she signal quite clearly that germany is willing to see a budget that i quote has to be different from the budgets before the e.u. is currently discussing its long term budget so a lot more money beyond the 500000000000 already on the table will have to be pledged all around but but her pointing towards the e.u. budget again in this speech of the day means her way of saying no once again to so-called corona bombs that would see other e.u. countries stay in stand in for national particularly it

the german chancellor and they are based in one of the most hard hit regions of germany in north rhine-westphalia and then suggesting as well a very slow very gradual return to some sense of normalcy here in germany so we could perhaps see at least some students slowly returning to school we could see some restaurants perhaps reopening albeit most likely with some restrictions in place as to how many a few might be allowed to sit next to each other but of course these are the customs that we've become really used to in the last few weeks it comes to rigorous hand washing and making sure that we are keeping our social distance from each other those are going to certainly be in place for a long long time to come before you came on air i was quoting the you gov poll that talks about people in germany being very keen on keeping the restrictive measures in place is that really the case people are keen on the isolation and social distancing here kristie. well there is this that's really all quite interesting given that over the weekend as well there were. several studies into mobile data it certainly s

the corona virus is small town in germany could provide valuable answers and the state of north rhine-westphalia has become an epicenter of the current health crisis now scientists are using the town as a testing ground to find out how covert 9 has spread and how to move forward. the streets are empty in heinsberg the town on germany's western border with holland has become the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the country it was here that the virus spread at a local carnival infecting dozens of citizens and putting the town in the focus of politicians and by rolla just like. times work. first the unique opportunity to us because the virus arrived here on a very specific date on february 14th or 15th during carnival. based on this we have sufficient data for example to determine unrecorded cases. has become a case study for cobbett 19 and the question how can we go back to normal a lot depends on how patients develop immunity to cope at 19 through antibodies to find out mouth swaps and blood tests were conducted in 1000 locals. and 15 percent of the population of the municipality here can n

ministers but specifically by prime ministers of several important states notably the states of north rhine-westphalia where the prime minister of that state is a christian democrats an ally of angle a knuckle but he wants to replace when the time comes and put our men lash it has been agitating for a loosening of restrictions wherever possible and yes one interesting points to to reflect on is that a school in north or invest failure which reopened last week has have to close again today because of an infection of a student now that's just one school but it shows you the same nice that angle americal says germany is treading on right now that they want to reopen weapons civil but the danger of coronavirus this. and get a mouthful is the one who says let's wait let's see what the effect of loosening restrictions has been before we loosen any further there is potentially going to be a decision on the 4th of may that clearly everyone is watching what happens in germany right now. all right daryn thanks very much that's the picture in berlin dog. el salvador security officials have been authorized to use

there are regional months, north rhine—westphalia r opening schools in other areas and it is too soonere care home debts are quite significant, about a third in france. we are looking at ellie mae until they start to ease the lockdown. indeed. gavin, thanks very much —— early may. donald trump says the us has ‘passed the peak‘ of new coronavirus cases. the us president told reporters at his daily white house briefing that he'd soon announce guidelines for lifting the lockdown, calling it ‘a very big day'. the battle continues, but the data suggests that nationwide we have passed the peak on new cases. hopefully that will continue and we will continue to make progress. these encouraging developments have put us in a very strong position to finalise guidelines for states on reopening the country. and in around ten minutes we'll have a special report from new york on the situation there. a lovely story to bring you. 106—year—old connie titchen has survived the spanish flu, two world wars, and now, covid—19. the great—grandmother is believed to be the oldest patient to recover from the vi