The regional government or Senate of the “Land”, made up of a tripartite group of Social Democrats, Greens and the left, agreed to this progressive de-escalation of restrictions, after five days in a row the incidence fell below 100 cases in seven days and for 100,000 inhabitants.
This is the mark from which the so-called “emergency brake” is activated, approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government in April to apply uniform restrictions from that level of incidence.
This Tuesday, the incidence in the capital and city-state stood at 63.3 cases. With this, the night curfew is also abolished this Wednesday -from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.-, which was implemented with the approval of that emergency brake.
This is the first big step towards the de-escalation authorized by the Berlin Senate after months of practical closure of public life. Restaurants, as well as culture and leisure, were closed last November, which was followed in December by the closure of non-essential shops.
A few weeks ago, some reliefs were authorized in commercial life and it was allowed to reopen under conditions of reduced capacity, prior appointment or with the presentation of a negative antigen test of the day.
The restaurant has remained closed all this time and it was only possible to sell food or drink to consume at home.
Individual sport in open spaces has been allowed in all this time, as well as walks. Now the swimming pools and other facilities will be reopened, always outdoors, but with capacity restrictions.
The reopening of the terraces, as well as the cinemas or theatrical and musical shows in the open air will be done under strict conditions, such as the presentation of a negative antigen test of the day or having the complete vaccination schedule.
For the shows, a maximum capacity of 250 people is foreseen, whose chairs must also be separated by at least 1.5 meters. Under these conditions, it is expected that the Berlinale will be held open to the public, which will take place in June in different parts of the city, always in open spaces.
Some tourist activities will be allowed, such as guided tours of the city or boat trips, but it is not until late June that the authorization of non-essential hotel overnight stays is foreseen.
The de-escalation in Berlin follows those agreed on a regional scale in other “Länder” in the country, where the incidence had already fallen below 100 cases in previous weeks.
The national average in Germany this Tuesday was 79.5 cases in seven days and per 100,000 inhabitants.
