Germany Sees Troubling Rise in Measure of New Infections; Students Begin to Return to Schools Across Europe.
CHURCH: Well, as countries ease restrictions, they are keeping a close eye on what's known as the R-value or reproduction rate. That estimates how many people a sick person infects with the coronavirus. In Germany that number has now reached more than 1.1, indicating that infections are on the rise again. The federal public health agency says it's too early to draw conclusions but the number needs to be watched. Chancellor Angela Merkel has said restrictions that have been relaxed can be reimposed if the pandemic accelerates again. And Spain is keeping its hardest hit regions under stricter measures as cases decline elsewhere. More than half of the country's population will be allowed to visit restaurants and small stores in a limited capacity as the government takes steps to ease its very strict lockdown. Al Goodman is in Madrid for us. He joins us now live. Good to see you, Al. Good to see the mask. So while most of Spain starts to lift restrictions gradually, that's not the case yet for Madrid and Barcelona. What do the numbers look like in those two cities?</s>AL GOODMAN, JOURNALIST: Hi, Rosemary. The numbers are everything. The numbers are the health indicators, the regions that are opening up this day, that's about 50 percent of the population in territories all over the country have the best health indicators according to the Spanish government and the experts. That means they have the lowest infection rates. That their hospitals have enough ICU beds and other types of facilities to handle any sort of second wave. That's not the case here in Madrid and the second city of Barcelona and in a couple of regions right around Madrid called the Castilla regions. So they will remain on a more limited thing. Now what's the difference? Over a 40-minute drive from where I'm standing in the provincial capital of Guadalajara, they're moving to phase one. So 10 people who don't live together -- remember people are separated to avoid the infections -- 10 people who don't live together, that could be relatives, that could be your friends, you could meet. OK. And in Guadalajara they could sit at an outdoor table like this. They could have a coffee or a beer. The stores are open and up to 30 percent of the store capacity. But here in Madrid as you can see, no outdoor tables. No restaurant service except takeout service over here at this place. And for stores, you still need an appointment to get something like I did on the weekend where I needed a light bulb. I had to make an appointment at the hardware store. They sent a text message to my phone so that I could go over and pick up a light bulb. So these are the kinds of differences the people who are not going to move over to phase 1 to be able to have meetings and be able to go to outdoor restaurants seating. There's a lot of complaints right now. Pressures building on health authorities to see if they can get these numbers right. But the Prime Minister has said the whole country was locked down at the same time, it's not going to open up at the same time. The priority is to maintain the health, keep people safe, masked, social distancing so that there is not a second wave -- Rosemary.</s>CHURCH: That is critical and being led by the data and not by anything else. Al Goodman bringing us that update. Many thanks to you. Well, as countries in Europe start to reopen, children are now starting to return to school, but the classrooms will look entirely different once the students return. Melissa Bell has more on how countries are doing it.</s>MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Some of those European citizens hardest hit by stay-at-home orders are finally getting back to something approaching normal. These teenagers in Germany were returning to their school building one by one. In Denmark primary school children were the first in Europe to get back to their classrooms on April 15th. Some less enthusiastically than others. With teaching staff facing a whole new set of challenges.</s>HENRIK WILHELMSEN, SCHOOL HEAD TEACHER: We have soap, disinfectant all over the place. We have put lines in the floor to indicate two meters intervals so the children can see what is two meters.</s>BELL: Since the start of Europe's coronavirus outbreak in late February, Italy, then Spain, France, many other EU countries gradually put in place stay-at-home orders and closed schools. Only now are many countries beginning to reopen. And crucial to getting parents back to work is getting their children back into class. In the Netherlands, the classrooms that will open Monday will look very different. Here, as in France, some children have started early. Children of health care workers, for instance. This week other primary school children will return to class on a voluntary basis and classes will be smaller so priority will be given to the children of essential workers. In announcing the reopening of schools the French President explained it was a matter of social justice.</s>EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Too many children, especially in poorer neighborhoods and in the countryside, are deprived of school with no access to digital learning, they cannot be helped in the same way by their parents.</s>BELL (on camera): As schools like this one gradually reopen their doors, it will be an important test. The government here has said it will not hesitate to bring in another stay-at-home order should those COVID-19 figures rise once again. So can kids inside schools be kept safe from one another and are parents happy to be sending them back?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm looking forward to them going back to school because I have to work. My husband is working also and it's very complicated to work at home with kids.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We have asked for our children to go back to school but first children from disadvantaged backgrounds. That's not our case. And since we work remotely, we are not the priority.</s>BELL (voice-over): Many French school children will have to wait before going back to school, a reminder that closing down back in March was easy and not just enough, it is reopening that is harder even as the battle against the outbreak continues. Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.</s>CHURCH: And you are watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still to come, a warning of a second wave. South Korea reports a surge in new coronavirus cases. Many linked to just one person. The details ahead.