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Chancellor Angela Merkel announced steps on Wednesday to ease the coronavirus lockdown in Germany but at the same time launched an “emergency brake” mechanism allowing for renewed restrictions in case infections pick up again. (Chambers and Carrel, 5/6)

The infection numbers, Ms. Merkel announced, were not just stable but lower than those reported two weeks ago. “We have reached the goal of slowing the spread of the virus, of protecting our health care system from being overwhelmed,” the chancellor said at a news conference. Germany, she said, was now in a position to reopen most aspects of its economy and society. “We can afford a little audacity,” Ms. Merkel said. It was good news not only for Germany, but countries eager for a sign that life can continue with the virus. (Bennhold and Eddy, 5/6)

South Korean health authorities raised new concerns about the novel coronavirus after reporting last month that dozens of patients who had recovered from the illness later tested positive again. ... But after weeks of research, they now say that such test results appear to be “false positives” caused by lingering - but likely not infectious - bits of the virus. (Cha and Smith, 5/7)

Indigenous groups from nine countries in the Amazon basin called on Wednesday for donations to help protect 3 million rainforest inhabitants who are vulnerable to the spread of the novel coronavirus because they lack adequate access to healthcare. They said the failure of regional governments to consider the needs of indigenous people in their plans for curbing the pandemic made it imperative to find other funding to buy food, medicine and basic protective equipment such as masks. (5/6)

Britain was expected to extend its nationwide lockdown on Thursday, but the European country hit hardest by the coronavirus plans cautiously to ease some restrictions on economic and social activity next week as it tries to reopen without sparking a devastating second wave of infections. Authorities in many countries are drawing up plans for how to cope with a resurgence in outbreaks even as they slowly work to reopen businesses and resume other activity halted to combat the pandemic. (Lawless, Kurtenbach and Johnson, 5/7)

In Indonesia’s easternmost province, felled trees are stacked to block a road that leads to Papuan villages. On the Thai-Myanmar border, the Karen people have also made makeshift barricades and marked them with signs warning visitors away. Across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has left indigenous peoples at particular risk because so many have poorer health and less access to health care than their non-indigenous peers. (Milko, 5/7)

Every evening when health experts updated anxious Italians in televised briefings about their nation’s devastating coronavirus outbreak, the lineup of authoritative figures included only one woman: the sign-language interpreter. And not a single woman was among the 20-member commission appointed to advise the government on how and when Italy could safely re-open its factories, stores, schools and parks — a disparity all the more glaring because more than half the country’s doctors and three-quarters of its nurses are women, many on the heroic front lines of the pandemic. (D'Emilio, 5/7)