Fresh Cases Further Divide German Government Over Restrictions

The Associated Press: Germany Divided Over Plans To Nix Rules Despite Outbreaks
Germany’s federal government and state governors squared up Monday for a battle over plans to end pandemic-related restrictions despite fresh clusters of cases across the country. The country has seen a steady decline in the overall number of COVID-19 cases thanks to measures imposed 10 weeks ago to limit personal contacts. (Jordans, 5/25)

The Washington Post: Germany's Coronavirus Contact Tracing Offers A Model For The U.S.
There's no sophisticated technology in the northern Berlin office where Filiz Degidiben spends her days tracking down contacts of people infected with the novel coronavirus. Her main tools are the phone by her side, a yellow calendar on the wall and a central database, accessible from her desktop computer, that was developed with infectious diseases such as measles in mind. “When coronavirus came, I wanted to help,” said Degidiben, who used to work assisting people with filling out forms in the social services department. (Morris and Beck, 5/25)

NPR: Stockholm Won't Reach Herd Immunity In May, Sweden's Chief Epidemiologist Says
Sweden's controversial approach to fighting the coronavirus pandemic has so far failed to produce the expected results, and there are calls within the country for the government to change its strategy. "We have a very vivid political debate," Karin Olofsdotter, Sweden's ambassador to the United States, told NPR. "I don't think people are protesting on the streets but ... there's a very big debate, if this [strategy] is the right thing to do or not, on Facebook and everywhere." (Mai, 5/25)

Reuters: Japanese Face 'New Normal' After Coronavirus Emergency Lifted
A day after Japan ended its state of emergency, Tokyo residents took to the streets with a mixture of relief and trepidation as they prepared for a “new normal” of living with the novel coronavirus. (Okamoto and Kim, 5/26)

The New York Times: Spain’s Courts, Already Strained, Face Crisis As Lockdown Lifts
A flood of new court cases, some with little precedent, is expected to deluge a Spanish judicial system already gasping for breath, bogged down by delays and lagging in technology. In a country known for its litigiousness, lawyers and judges are bracing for a period of turmoil and disorder in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. One judge expects as many as 150,000 people to file for bankruptcy, up from a few thousand last year. Lawyers representing Spaniards who lost loved ones to the virus have already filed a lawsuit against the government, arguing that it is guilty of negligent homicide. (Minder, 5/25)

The Washington Post: Italy Coronavirus: Nightlife Returns And Politicians Worry 
Drawn outdoors by ideal weather, Italians this weekend gathered at beaches, bars and piazzas, drinking and sometimes flouting social distancing rules while soaking in the nation’s celebratory post-lockdown mood. But on Monday, as images of nightlife played on Italian TV, a chorus of politicians warned that the country had gotten reckless and risked backsliding in its fight against the coronavirus. “This weekend has not been serene,” Giuseppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, said in a message posted on Facebook. “We cannot imagine another one like it.” (Harlan and Pitrelli, 5/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Wuhan Tests Nine Million People For Coronavirus In 10 Days
The central Chinese city of Wuhan said early Monday that it had collected coronavirus swab tests from more than nine million of its 11 million people over the past 10 days, an ambitious response to the re-emergence of a handful of fresh cases this month at the initial center of the pandemic. Most of those nine million samples have already been processed, according to a daily record of nucleic-acid tests by Wuhan health authorities. As of Sunday, they said, the mass testing identified 218 asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus, who were put under quarantine and monitored for symptoms. Just one of those cases was later recategorized as a confirmed case. (Fan, 5/25)

The Wall Street Journal: China’s Plan To Make Permanent Health Tracking On Smartphones Stirs Concern
China created a smartphone tool to trace and track the movement of potential coronavirus patients. Now, plans to make that kind of health tracking permanent are stirring concerns in a country where personal privacy was once said to be an afterthought. Anger spread across Chinese social media sites over the weekend following an announcement that officials in the eastern city of Hangzhou could create a permanent version of a smartphone-based health-rating system developed to fight Covid-19. The news led some internet users to accuse the city of exploiting the pandemic to expand state monitoring of residents. (Lin, 5/25)