There is still no thought of „normal“ school teaching as before the outbreak of the corona pandemic. But the state education ministers want to achieve that all pupils in Germany return to school at least for days or weeks before the summer holidays.

Infection and health protection would have "the highest priority", they said in the statement about their decision on Tuesday. This was "the guideline for all further steps". With the key points presented - including strict hygiene rules and distance requirements - a gradual return to "orderly school operations" is possible. Criticism came immediately. The federal and state governments will discuss the concept on Thursday.

Despite the Corona crisis, all pupils should be able to attend school at least for a few days before the summer holidays. This is what the state ministers of education are proposing to the Prime Minister and Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) in a concept adopted on Tuesday. "Every pupil should be able to attend school on a daily or weekly basis until the beginning of the summer holidays", they say. According to the Conference of Education Ministers, however, regular schooling for the approximately eleven million pupils in Germany will no longer be possible before the summer holidays. According to the "framework concept", this is not possible in the current state of affairs due to the distance requirement of at least 1.50 meters. A mix of classroom teaching and learning at home should be expanded, and digital teaching and learning should be further developed.

Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to use economic aid in the Corona crisis to promote climate protection and advocates a significantly higher climate target for the EU. "There will now be a difficult distribution debate," said the CDU politician on Tuesday at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, to which the German government had invited ministers from around 30 countries. "This makes it all the more important, when we launch economic stimulus packages, to always keep a close eye on climate protection and to make it clear that we are not making savings on climate protection, but that we are investing in sustainable technologies.

The president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, has made an urgent appeal to the population to continue to strictly adhere to the rules for containing the corona pandemic. "We do not want the number of cases to increase again. We do not want to have more Covid-19 cases again," said Wieler in Berlin. He said that it is important to continue to stay at home as far as possible, to adhere to contact restrictions, to keep at least one and a half metres distance and, where this is difficult, to wear a nose-mouth protection.

Due to the slowed spread of the coronavirus, the federal government believes that hospitals should again be able to fill more vacant beds with other patients as of May. After almost six weeks of postponement and cancellations, the hospitals could now carry out more planned operations, according to a concept by Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU). "This is important because postponing urgent operations, for example in the case of tumours, or planned operations, for example for hip replacement, also causes health and psychological suffering for the patients concerned". According to the concept, an exclusive preference for Covid-19 patients cannot be justified in the long term.

In Germany, more than 157,200 (previous day: 156,000) infections with the coronavirus had been registered by Tuesday afternoon. At least 6000 (previous day: 5817) people infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus have died nationwide so far. This is the result of an evaluation by the German Press Agency, which takes into account the latest figures for the individual federal states. According to estimates by the Robert Koch Institute, around 117,400 people in Germany have survived the infection. Experts also expect a high number of unreported cases in Germany. The highest figures are in the state of Bavaria - with more than 41 800 proven cases and at least 1708 deaths.

According to the Ifo Institute, the German economy will not return to pre-crisis levels until the end of next year. "We will not return to pre-Corona levels until the end of 2021," said Timo Wollmershäuser, head of Ifo economic research, on Tuesday. However, the individual sectors are likely to recover at different speeds. According to an evaluation of a company survey by the Ifo Institute, economic output is likely to have fallen by 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2020 and then slump by 12.2 percent in the second. For the year as a whole, it is likely to fall by 6.2 per cent. In April, the economic researchers surveyed around 8800 companies on capacity utilisation and sales development.

Austria lifts the initial restrictions after almost seven weeks due to the continued favourable development in the Corona crisis. "We can let the initial restrictions expire, we do not need to continue them", said Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) in Vienna on Tuesday. As of 1 May, only a minimum distance of one metre to people who do not live in a joint household will be necessary, he said. Since mid-March, Austrians were only allowed to leave the house if they had good reason. This included absolutely necessary errands. However, outdoor exercise - walking and, for example, cycling - was also permitted from the beginning.

According to the Hamburg Administrative Court, the obligation to wear masks in shops, which has been in force since Monday, does not violate the personal rights guaranteed by the German constitution. The court decided in summary proceedings that the obligation to wear a mouth-nose cover was necessary for the protection of life and health. The health authority had a wide scope of assessment. According to a court spokesperson on Tuesday, two private individuals had filed a complaint against the measure to protect against corona infections. As of Wednesday, the obligation to wear a mask when shopping will apply nationwide - Berlin was the last state to follow suit. In addition, mouth and nose protection must also be worn nationwide in local traffic.

The start of the Tour de France, which has been postponed to the end of August, is also possibly under threat due to the coronavirus pandemic. French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe told the National Assembly on Tuesday that sporting events with more than 5,000 participants could not take place before September. The start of the Tour had been postponed to 29 August. Should the conditions also apply to the most important cycling race in the world, the start date would be hard to keep - even as a race without spectators. Because the Tour retinue alone, including riders, team members, officials, journalists and security forces, comprises several thousand people.

In Berlin, the water police are also deployed in the fight against unreasonable citizens who think that the Corona restrictions do not apply to them. They have now extinguished a campfire on the riverbank from a boat, where some 20 people had gathered. It took a "10-minute water curtain", as the police tweeted on Tuesday. According to loudspeaker announcements by officials, the celebrating people had fled without extinguishing the flames. This was then done by the boat crew.

Naples without pizza? Unimaginable! But for a long time the inhabitants of the southern Italian city had to endure corona without their favourite food. On Monday, after about seven weeks, pizzerias were finally allowed to turn on the ovens again: Just for the take-out/collect pizza to order for home, but still. "It is a psychologically important factor that the pizza chefs are able to work again, but economically delivery doesn't help us much," said the president of the Neapolitan pizza association Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, Antonio Pace, in conversation with the German Press Agency on Tuesday.

(Original text: dpa. Translation: Mareike Graepel)