As some nations relax rules, others such as Germany are arguing about how far to go

Swiss barbers are cutting hair again, Norwegian primary school children have returned to class, and many of the Czech Republic’s shopkeepers are back in business as governments across Europe continue to ease their coronavirus lockdowns.

But, in other European countries, leaders are coming under growing pressure to move faster and Germany was locked in a row over how and when to lift restrictions amid concerns the country is in danger of gambling away its achievements so far.

Over 3 million people have been infected by the coronavirus around the world and more than 208,000 have died, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker. The world’s worst pandemic in a century has forced governments into a dilemma.

People confined to their homes for weeks are growing frustrated and anxious and, with economic activity all but dead, prolonged recessions are forecast in many countries. But with an antidote or vaccine yet to be found, leaders are also acutely aware of the danger of a second wave of infections.

The Swiss stopped short of full lockdown in emergency measures introduced last month, but on Monday began the first of a three-stage lifting plan with doctors, dentists, nursery schools, hairdressers and massage and beauty salons permitted to reopen along with hardware stores, garden centres and florists.

A week after it reopened its pre-schools, Norway sent its younger primary school pupils back to class – with a maximum of 15 in each, and many parents far from reassured – after a month and a half of remote learning from home.

In the Czech Republic, which declared a state of emergency before its first Covid-19 death, a five-stage lockdown exit plan has been moved forward, allowing gyms and stores smaller than 2,500 sq metres outside shopping malls to reopen on Monday.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Visitors at Prague zoo, which has been allowed to reopen with safety measures. Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPA

The central European country’s detailed roadmap, which divides businesses and amenities into five – since reduced to four – categories according to the risk of new infections each poses, is understood to be being studied by the UK government.

Croatia on Monday also began easing curbs, allowing smaller shops, libraries and museums to reopen, while Serbia permitted small businesses and food markets to open their shutters, eased an overnight curfew and allowed elderly people to venture outside three times a week. Romania said it would not extend the current state of emergency past 15 May, when people will be able to move around with documentation.

Governments in other countries, however, are facing a more problematic path out of lockdown. Germany has so far limited its outbreak to fewer than 160,000 cases and just over 6,000 deaths, a far lower proportion than many countries.

But having slowed the virus’s spread, many people believe its dangers have been exaggerated and the country should get back to work. Wolfgang Schäuble, an elder statesman and current president of the Bundestag lower house, said the social and economic costs of lockdown should be weighed against the need to save lives.

“When I hear that protecting lives should come above everything else, I don’t think that is absolutely true,” Schäuble told Der Tagesspiegel. “The massive economic, social, psychological and other effects need to be weighed up,” he said. “To just bring everything to a halt for two years can also have horrific consequences.”

The chancellor, Angela Merkel, warned last week that some of the country’s 16 states were moving too fast to ease physical distancing measures. Her words were echoed on Monday by the economy minister, Peter Altmaier.

“As a person who believes in fact-based decisions, I recommend to all of us to proceed very carefully in order not to be forced into eventually rescinding these decisions to ease restrictions,” Altmaier told Deutschlandfunk radio.

But although almost three-quarters of the German population said they supported the lockdown measures in a poll published on Friday and the popularity of Merkel’s government has leapt 10 points, frustration – and opposition – is beginning to mount.

Armin Laschet, the state premier of North-Rhine Westphalia and a candidate to succeed Merkel as leader of their Christian Democratic Union party, said the question was “of course still one of life and death”. But he also insisted the negative effects of lockdown should be weighed up and noted that “40% of intensive care beds are empty” in his state.

Germany’s most popular newspaper, Bild, on Monday accused Merkel of being “stubborn, pig-headed and bossy”, while the Green party has urged her to be even more cautious, and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland said an absolute shutdown was avoidable and people “must be given back their liberty”.

In France, pressure on the president, Emmanuel Macron, is also increasing as his prime minister, Édouard Philippe, prepared to present on Tuesday long-awaited details of the country’s plan to emerge from lockdown from 11 May.

A survey published at the weekend showed less than half the population – 43% – still supported maintaining strict lockdown measures, down eight points from the previous week. Meanwhile, opposition MPs are angry they will have only hours to debate the plan before a vote on Tuesday afternoon.

France also plans to have more than 26m non-medical face masks available for purchase by the end of this week, the deputy finance minister, Agnes-Pannier Runacher, said on Monday.

Spain’s nearly 47 million people have spent more than six weeks under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, with only adults authorised to leave home to buy food and medicines or walk the dog. Authorities cautiously prepared further steps to loosen confinement on Monday after children were allowed to leave their homes for the first time in six weeks on Sunday, causing concern about crowds in some areas.

Italy, which has the world’s third highest rate of coronavirus deaths at more than 26,000, will allow factories and building sites to reopen from 4 May and permit limited family visits as it prepares a staged end to Europe’s longest lockdown, the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said at the weekend.

Meanwhile, in the US, the White House cancelled its Monday press briefing on the coronavirus, following days of controversy resulting from Donald Trump’s comments about injecting disinfectant as a possible treatment for Covid-19. Trump has not attended the briefing since Friday, tweeting that the press conferences are “not worth the time & effort”.

There have been reports that the White House wants to refocus the briefings on reopening the economy.