Germany to Begin Gradually Reopening Its Economy Next Week

BERLIN—Germany will start reopening its economy next week after spending a month in a partial lockdown, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday, hours before the country’s leading car maker said its European factories would resume production as early as next week.

The two announcements come as the economic toll from confinement measures rises across the world, with jobless numbers rocketing and economic output crashing, putting pressure on governments to devise road maps for the restarting of nonessential businesses.

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