Germany’s Economy Minister said Monday that the country should slowly reopen businesses “very carefully” in order to prevent a spike in coronavirus cases.

“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 easing measures,” Peter Altmaier told the Deutschlandfunk radio service.

Helge Braun, chief of staff to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, wrote a letter to Germany’s ruling coalition claiming that it is “too early” to lift social distancing measures but said Germany should be optimistic.

“In the interest of the entire population, to avoid overburdening the health system in the long-term, it’s too early to lift social distancing,” she said in the letter reviewed by Reuters.

Some small German businesses were allowed to reopen on April 20. Larger fashion chains and department stores are still shut down. Schools in some parts of Germany have also been allowed to reopen, such as in North Rhine-Westphalia, the country’s most populated state.

“We mustn’t allow ourselves for one second to be lulled into a false sense of security,” Merkel said last week, urging the German public to be conscious of social distancing guidelines. “We mustn’t forget that we’re still at the beginning of this pandemic.”

Germany has had a large number of coronavirus cases, but not as many deaths as other hotspots in Europe due to an oversupply of hospital beds and rigorous testing. Germany has also taken in coronavirus patients from other European Union countries for treatment.

As of Monday at 2:15 p.m. ET, there are 158,142 coronavirus cases and 5,985 deaths in Germany.

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