Merkel pledges "first thing we'll reopen will be schools"

If the current COVID-19 restrictions are eased, the reopening of schools and daycare facilities for children in Germany is an absolute priority, Chancellor Angela Merkel said here on Thursday, reported Xinhua.

"The first thing we will reopen will be daycare centers and primary schools," she told a group of parents during an online chat.

Merkel was linked up via video with mothers and fathers from all over Germany, who talked about the weeks when the "balancing act between childcare and working from home was only possible with the greatest of difficulty."

Merkel said she was well aware of the "exceptional situation," adding that "I would never have wished that I had to make such decisions."

According to Merkel, policymakers would try to ease the situation of parents by providing support benefits, such as child allowance. Entitlement to a payment for parents who lose wages because they have to care for their sick child has also been expanded.

However, the German chancellor also asked for patience. She said she could not yet give a timetable for when the situation in schools and daycare centers in Germany would return to normal.