Germany is preparing to reopen all shops and schools and restart Bundesliga football this month, according to a draft agreement approved by Angela Merkel.
Pupils will return to kindergarten and primary schools from next week, restaurants could reopen from Saturday and the Bundesliga could resume as early as May 15 as the country emerges from its coronavirus lockdown.
Social distancing rules will have to be maintained in schools, offices and businesses such as shops to prevent the virus from spreading.
Germany has been praised for its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak and measures that have contributed to a lower death toll than countries such as the UK, Italy, Spain, France and Belgium.
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The draft agreement is expected to be given formal approval by Berlin and Germany's and 16 federal states on Wednesday.
States will each decide on a gradual opening of various aspects of public life, according to the draft document seen by Reuters.
They will decide when to open universities, restaurants, bars, hotels, trade fairs, cosmetic studios, brothels, theatres, fitness studios, cinemas and discos all under certain hygiene and distancing concepts, said the draft.
States will also decide on limiting contact between people.
Germans will be encouraged to continue to keep a safe distance from each other and wear masks in shops and on public transport.
Schools should gradually reopen for all pupils and nurseries should start looking after more children from May 11, it said.
The draft stated: "Step-by-step, schools should make possible education of all pupils while implementing appropriate hygiene measures and upholding distancing rules."
Amateur open-air sports will be given the green light to resume, as will professional football in the first and second division under certain conditions.
It is unclear from the draft when the Bundesliga matches will restart or when fans will be allowed to attend games again.
Some German states want it to kick off again on May 15 and two people familiar with the preparations have told Reuters it is probably set to be given the green light to restart then.
The draft document says the start of matches must be preceded by two weeks of quarantine, possibly as a training camp.
Players at clubs such as Bayern Munich resumed training weeks ago.
One major restriction set to remain in place - likely for several months - is a ban on large gatherings like sports matches, cultural events or festivals, AFP reported.
Such events will remain forbidden until "at least August 31", according to the text.
In a bid to prevent a second widespread coronavirus outbreak, the federal and state governments agreed in preliminary talks that if the number of new infections rises after restrictions on public life are eased, local restrictions should be reintroduced immediately.
The plan is for this threshold to be set at "more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the last seven days" in districts. If there is a limited outbreak, such as in a nursing home, restrictions might only be applied there, the paper showed.
"If there is a dispersed regional outbreak and infection chains are unclear, general restrictions, such as those in force in Germany before 20 April, must be consistently reintroduced regionally," the paper says.
It added that this would include restricting travel to and from these regions.
The draft said the number of new infections has remained low since the initial steps to ease the lockdown were introduced on April 20, AFP reported.
So far, only smaller shops have been authorised to resume sales. Barber shops and hair salons reopened this week.
Some older pupils returned to school this week under a phased approach.
On Tuesday the southern state of Bavaria announced it would partially reopen for tourism later this month, with superstores, beer gardens, restaurants and hotels resuming operations, albeit with restrictions.
Germany, which went into lockdown in March, has been more successful than other large European countries in slowing the virus' spread.
Its reproduction rate has been drifting down for several days, leading to pressure from regional governments and business groups for restrictions to be relaxed.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has increased by 947 to 164,807, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.
The reported death toll rose by 165 to 6,996.
Germany had the world's eighth highest death toll as of Wednesday morning, far behind the US (72,275), the UK (29,427), Italy (29,315), Spain (25,613) and France (25,531).
