German museums and shops open as lockdown eased

Cabinet minister Peter Altmaier told us in a Newsnight interview there had been 'a decline in infections, for now, at least four weeks in a row'. Noting that there is no German word for 'serendipity', Professor Robert Kaufman of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology said: 'We apparently did not have hotspots, it spread slowly and we were lucky.' Applying its large-scale testing capability and tracing of thousands of early cases, Germany contained its infection at a relatively low level. So now restrictions are being relaxed. Religious services resumed on Sunday, many shops were able to reopen on Monday, some museums will follow on Wednesday - as well as cabinet decisions about further easing of the rules.