Germany to lift all COVID-19 related bans by May 2021

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's member of the staff said Saturday that he was "very sceptical'' about views of people going at Easter but expected the coronavirus situation in the country to increase by the end of May.Helge Braun told the Funke newspaper group in an interview announced Saturday that he is "very suspicious as far as travel at Easter is concerned.'' Easter falls on the first weekend in April this year.READ MORE NEWS HEREBut Funke said he believes that "we can talk in a significantly more relaxed way about travel and freedom from Whitsun,'' on May 23.Merkel and state governors this week allowed to extend lockdown measures until March 28 while planning a roadmap for easing restrictions in areas with lower diseases level.'Full normality in the summer'Braun said that Germany could turn to full normality in the summer if vaccine guests keep to their performance promises and no new coronavirus mutation arises "that supports issues over the whole benefit of vaccination.''READ MORE NEWS HERE Germany so far has given 5.7% of its population a first part of the vaccine and 2.8% a second dose.A decline in new coronavirus cases has held as a more dangerous variant first found in the UK lies in the country.Europe struggles with variantsEurope recorded 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, an addition of 9% from the early week and a withdrawal that ended a six-week decline in new infections, WHO said Thursday.READ MORE NEWS HERE "The spread of the variants is driving the addition, but not only,'' said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, citing "also the possibility of society when it is not done in a safe and a controlled manner.''The variant first got in the UK is now powerful in at least 10 European countries: Britain, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, Spain, and Portugal.