Im sorry kelly welcome to the Program German chancellor Angela Merkel has announced that germany will ease some coronavirus lockdown measures in the coming weeks but warned that the steps must be taken gradually and with caution lets get a closer look now at some of the challenges confronting germany states as they try and manage their opening reopening 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 germanys federal division of powers. We have seen Good Progress as far as the number of new infections is concerned that means we can now take further steps. But we have to be careful to keep control. And the Emergency Response mechanism we have to fight it means i can feel quite confident. Of the. 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 reducibility solutions we made today dont just concern the question of how can we ease the restrictions but also how can we continue to ensure Public Security we know its difficult finding a balance between Public Safety and Civil Liberties its because the german states now have to find their own ways to gradually start sending children back to schools and kindergartens and most german states popular sports will be allowed and eagerly anticipated abundantly the German Soccer League will resume the season in mid may. Tell us more now we are joined by chief Political Correspondent melinda cranes to linda tell us what does this say about how authorities view the state of the pandemic in germany. It says that they are cautiously moving into a next phase of easing restrictions but that they by no means believe the pandemic is over in fact the chancellor said very clearly that this is essentially at most the end of the 1st phase and that it is absolutely essential to proceed cautiously and she has said in the past it would be a crying shame if germany were essentially to waste its early successes by moving too fast and she was absolutely adamant today about emphasizing caution as the country moves ahead lets talk a little bit more about that caution i mean how much risk does indeed come with this strategy. Theres absolutely risk associated with it essentially this is all about trial and error there was a 1st initial phase of relaxing restrictions starting on april 20th and as the chancellor said today that went pretty well we did not see a big uptick in the rate of infection so now were moving into this next phase but again the authorities will be watching very very carefully to see whether we do then see a new wave of infection and in fact the head of the robert culp institute which is basically this Country Center for Disease Control has said that he absolutely expects a 2nd wave of infection and maybe even a 3rd one at some point in the future so as i said trial and error with close watch on the effects of the relaxation that we will now be seeing moment an interesting aspect also of this plan though just to highlight it the government has essentially handed over the responsibility for handling the easing of measures now over to the federal states why did they do that. A couple of reasons 1st of all the states start out from very different positions some states are much more densely populated than others and as you know population density is absolutely associated with a more rapid spread of the virus secondly some states have more money than others some states are better able to handle the economic effects of a lock down than others so we have seen states moving anyway at a different pace to start relaxing restrictions this is essentially become a de facto matter of differences in speed of relaxation and therefore basically weve seen that the country decide that that is now the official policy and the fact is it makes sense because what we also heard today is that they will be carefully watching on a local basis to see the results of relaxation of restrictions and there is a measure in place if infections rise above 50 infections per 100000 people a population then they will have to put measures back in place again on a local basis so an attempt now to make the economic damage localized essentially by limiting global lockdowns in scope on the basis of local circumstances and that appears to make a lot of sense but of course well see how it proceeds in future ok so its not one size fits all here on melinda meantime you know we have to mention of course there has been a human cost in this crisis but if we look at it in relative terms germany has fared relatively better compared to European Partners why is that. There are a couple of theories that work there 1st of all germanys initial victims many of them were young and the young tend to recover better from corona than those who are older and have preexisting conditions that have to do with the fact that the 1st waves of infection were in hamburg and in in munich from people who had gone skiing and many of them as i say and fit secondly germany has done a lot of testing a lot more than many of its neighbors a great deal more than the us that means that the number of people infected is better known here and is larger than it might be in many other countries so the rate of fatalities per those infected may look lower than it may than it has elsewhere simply because more people here are tested. Important to keep all that information in mind chief Political Correspondent melinda crane in berlin thank you. And as we heard before there was good news for germanys plan to slee it today politicians signed off on the leaks plans to resume the season chancellor Angela Merkel had to say. Their number is that we looked at. Retail. When we have now you know lift. The ban on larger shops to be opened but of course there will nane hygiene. Weve also talked about sports and recreation and of course. Well. Resume operations so joining us now we have quest harrington from sports to tell us a little bit more about this so just how soon can the bonus they get back soon is really defined as mid may and the german football they the d. F. L. Will meet next meet this week tomorrow in fact to decide in define that day in particular so that could be as soon as next weekend or the following weekend but the decision was unanimous to restart the bundesliga and theyve been working on a plan to restart this working closely with politicians as well as the medical experts to make sure they can provide the safest environment to restart you know the boat as they can after all it is a business weve seen some businesses potentially open back up in the bundesliga is no different how big a deal of this is is this for german football its enormous i mean its a really black and white issue and you can even consider it a red issue a black or red issue because some reports report that high is 13 out of the 36 but if they can and 2nd Division Clubs could suffer insolvency if the bonus ticket is not resumed they pick up that 300000000 euros that they expect if they complete the season by june 30th from the t. V. Revenue so thats huge very important plus the riches clubs as well kind of put their money aside in a pot you know of charity and so forth thats byron munich dorman leipsic as. Well as labor crews and you know so that can help is well you know but i think its huge if it really shows a big signal to the rest of the world as well what does that mean 1st ports around the world do you think well you know i think it provides hope obviously that we can slowly take steps back to some level of normalcy within society you know see karl hydes ruminated came out and said he believes that this can show the world how the policy works in germany and i have to you know add that during the press conference one thing that stood out is that the politicians thanked the population of germany for at hearing to these restrictions and so forth you know so i think that people have to keep that in mind and then you can look at other major leagues i mean not only you know sports but football leagues you can look at each of the English Premier League you know all of the leagues are watching theyre watching the play and its germany could serve as a blueprint you know what other leagues can follow and some you know have been going back to the drawing board several times but not everyone will be happy with this idea what concerns are there you know of course there are concerns of a 2nd wave of infections and so forth some politicians have spoken out saying that some professionals in high risk situations such as nurses have struggle to get adequate testing where but as the good players are getting to tests you know of before they hit the pitch some playgrounds in some states in germany havent opened up but millionaire footballers are being allowed to play on their grounds fan groups as well theyre not happy you know with the idea of having artificial environments for fans even though we reported earlier in the week that they have artificial virtual fans of games you know another thing that fans stood out to me what they want is they want the games to be aired for free and thats a huge thing because with no fans allowed how will you really control the outbreak of fans from gathering and the major broadcast of the book as they get has not ruled out the possibility of selling their rights to free t. V. So that could be a possibility i hope it does actually materialise sports thank you ok. And lets get a quick check now some other stories making news around the world u. S. Secretary of state my pump aoe has blasted china for its handling of the corona Virus Outbreak he repeated allegations that the virus escaped from a lab in the city of han and accused beijing of initially covering up the outbreak more the e. U. Has entered the deepest economic recession in its history according to the European Commission the blocs economy is expected to contract by a massive 7. 4 percent this year because of the coronavirus officials predict output to bounce back in 2021 with growth of around 6 percent. And Florian Schneider one of the cofounders of the iconic german band craft back has died when he was 73 snyder pioneered electronic music with craft back in the early 1970 s. The band achieved International Fame with hits like this one del autobahn and trans europe express. Heres a summary of what germanys safety there is agreed on their Video Conference with chancellor Angela Merkel earlier today it is being left to 16 state governments to decide for themselves how and when to reopen daycares restaurants and hotels the local governments must respond quickly if there is a spike in new infections social distancing rules are to be extended for another month but members of 2 separate households will now be allowed to meet and 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 late may with restrictions. And the United States as the number of those succumbing to the coronavirus rises Health Care Professionals are taking the time to celebrate the positives at one hospital in texas the long term patients recovery from covert 19 was an occasion to twist and shout. Dancing the stress away and celebrating one of their hard successes. These nurses at st Josephs Hospital in the u. S. State of california she made to the sounds of a mariachi band. The p. K. She wasnt just the annual cinco de milo holiday celebrations and parts of mexico and also the u. S. d it was also to mark the recovery of long suffering patient Amanda Mendoza finally discharged from hospital he spent the last 45 days that battling cope with 19. Amid so much bleak knees finding these moments of joy has become all the more important. And these days you have to celebrate when you can that does it for us here at the interview news thank you so much for joining us and dont forget you can always get more on our website at t w news. Thats also happens to be our twitter and instagram handle im sara kelly and thank you so much for watching have a great day and just. Staying for. Among which of course a. Video or. Anytime anywhere. W s a