Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is KCRW Berlin's Program Director, reporter and show host. She is a veteran American journalist with German roots who comes to us from NPR, where she spent 13 years as a correspondent, heading the network’s international bureaus in Kabul, Cairo and more recently, Berlin. She’s won numerous awards for her radio work, including a Peabody and Gracie. She also received the ICFJ 2017 Excellence in International Reporting Award for her coverage of Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Prior to her radio career, Sarhaddi Nelson spent 20 years as a newspaper reporter and was part of the Newsday team that won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for covering the crash of TWA Flight 800.
The manager of the Berlin Hotel and Restaurant Association urged members to strictly abide by hygiene guidelines, telling German news agency dpa it would be a “catastrophe” if opening restaurants leads to a rise in infections.
The federal interior minister said border controls will be eased between Germany and Luxembourg on Friday. Meanwhile, several border crossings between Germany and Austria were reopened yesterday.
The judges ruled the masking requirement on public transport and in stores is justified under the public health law.
Berlin officials are also trying to figure out an emergency plan for dealing with any new COVID-19 outbreak.
Today marks 75 years since the end of World War II in Europe. It’s also an official holiday this year in Berlin and in light of the pandemic, the city is offering free events online to commemorate the anniversary.
Some EU and German officials are divided over whether airline passengers must accept vouchers instead of refunds for canceled flights during the pandemic.
In a press conference where he reported the latest figures, Dr. Lothar Wieler of the Robert Koch Institute also made clear that the pandemic is not over and people should remain vigilant about social distancing.
Since being ordered shut in March, many restaurants and cafes are struggling to make ends meet by offering takeout and delivery.
State premier Reiner Haseloff said the reason for moving more quickly than other states is that Saxony-Anhalt has far fewer cases of COVID-19 than most of the rest of Germany.
Despite the loosening of some restrictions across Germany, the federal government is adamant about extending social distancing rules until at least May 10.
