Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a test of her authority on Wednesday as she meets Germany's 16 state premiers, many of whom have brazenly ignored her pleas for caution on easing coronavirus restrictions.

The German federal government and the states have agreed that all shops and amateur open-air sports can restart under certain conditions and states will each decide on a gradual opening of various aspects of public life, a draft document showed. 

The document, dated May 5, was prepared by federal chancellery chief Helge Braun and the heads of the regional chancelleries for a telephone conference Merkel is due to hold with premiers of the 16 states, Reuters reported.

The plan is for this threshold to be set at "more than 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the last seven days" in districts. If there is a limited outbreak, such as in a nursing home, restrictions might only be applied there, the paper showed. 

Germany began tentatively lifting its lockdown two weeks ago, opening some shops and schools, after infection rates came down. 

Merkel and the state leaders agreed last week to loosen the rules further, giving religious institutions, playgrounds, museums and zoos the green light to open.

Wednesday's meeting is expected to yield details on the reopening of schools and kindergartens, as well as whether the Bundesliga can be the first of Europe's major football leagues to resume matches.

Also up for discussion will be an infection-rate threshold that would trigger a new lockdown, according to the Bild Daily.

Merkel has repeatedly urged Germany's states to proceed with caution when it comes to easing lockdown measures, even as Europe's top economy flounders.

The far-right AfD, Germany's largest opposition party by number of MPs, has also attacked the lockdown measures.

Germany has been more successful than other large European countries in slowing the virus' spread. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has increased by 947 to 164,807, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday. The reported death toll rose by 165 to 6,996.