German state is first to abolish enforced lockdown restrictions

A region of Germany has drawn heavy criticism for its plan to become one of the first in Europe to abolish its coronavirus restrictions wholesale and replace them with non-binding advice. The eastern state of Thuringia plans to lift every vestige of its lockdown — including a ban on mass gatherings, an obligation to wear facemasks in shops and a requirement to stay at least 1.5m apart in public — from June 6. Its left-wing chief minister has been accused of “trivialising” the threat from the disease only a fortnight after the infection rates in two of its counties breached a national safety limit set by Angela Merkel, the chancellor.