Germany set to extend social distancing rules: source

By Andreas Rinke and Michael Nienaber

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's government and its state premiers have agreed to extend until June 29 social distancing rules used to contain the coronavirus pandemic, a senior government official said.

Tuesday's deal follows a row over how fast to ease lockdown measures that have helped Europe's most populous country weather the outbreak with a relatively low number of deaths.

Chancellor Angela Merkel originally suggested extending social distancing rules of at least 1.50 metres until July 5 as the conservative leader is worried about a second wave of cases that could require another costly lockdown.

The country's 16 states have been hit to differing degrees by the coronavirus and Thuringia in the east, which has had fewer cases, voiced its dissent in separate statement.

Germany has kept its death rate relatively low, at 8,302 so far, and an initial easing of measures introduced in mid-March does not appear to have caused a significant spike in cases.

Against this background, federal and state governments also agreed to allow public gatherings of up to 10 people from June 6, the source said.

Balancing the need to revive the European Union's biggest economy with protecting public health, Berlin is expected to present the new guidelines on Wednesday.

A government source said the cabinet may also decide to lift a warning against travel to 26 fellow EU countries plus Britain, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein from June 15, opening the way to separate advice for specific regions.

Markus Soeder, premier of Bavaria, the hardest-hit state, voiced opposition to moving too fast in reopening tourism.

“We have in Italy, Spain and France completely different infection numbers compared to Germany so I ask the federal government to think very carefully about this,” he said.

“Nobody should be fooled. Corona remains deadly,” Soeder said, describing Thuringia state's shift towards adopting voluntary, localised measures as a “fatal signal”.

In a nod to Bavaria's objections, the cabinet might postpone its decision by a week, but still lift the blanket travel warning from mid-June, media group RND reported.