Germany eases lockdown as Chancellor Merkel hails end of pandemic first phase
BERLIN, May 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Chancellor Angela Merkel announced steps to ease the coronavirus lockdown, saying the first phase of the pandemic had passed but there was still a long way to go.
Germany went into lockdown in March to slow the spread of the virus. Its reproduction rate has been falling for several days, and Merkel said it was now consistently below 1 – meaning a person with the virus infects fewer than one other on average.