BERLIN: Germany plans to extend restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus until March 14, according to a draft agreement for talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of the 16 federal states on Wednesday.
The number of new daily infections in Germany has been falling, prompting some regional leaders to push for a timetable to ease the lockdown, but concerns are growing about the impact of more infectious variants of the virus on case numbers.
“We have a highly fragile situation,” Winfried Kretschmann, Greens premier of the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, told Spiegel Online. “We can see in other countries, such as Portugal, how quickly the tide can turn.”
Under the draft agreement, which may yet change during the afternoon meeting, some exceptions will be made to a strict lockdown which has been in place since mid-December.
Hairdressers will be allowed to reopen from March 1 and individual states can decide on how to re-start school classes. Merkel, who has adopted a cautious approach throughout the pandemic, has said nurseries and primary schools take priority.
Merkel has drawn criticism for a slow vaccine rollout in Germany and the wider European Union compared with Israel, Britain and the United States.
About 2.34 million people, or 2.8% of Germany’s population, have had a first shot and more than 1 million people a second, and the government has promised that everyone will have been offered a vaccine by Sept. 21.
BUSINESS ANGST
Some business and industry associations are pushing for an easing of the restrictions as soon as possible, citing the damage inflicted on Europe’s biggest economy, which shrank by 5% last year.
“The situation is serious,” the BDI industry and BDA employers groups said. “We urgently call for an easing plan.”
However, the Ifo economic think-tank said a lockdown extension until mid-March was bearable and that a swifter easing that triggered a surge in cases could create greater damage.
Germany reported 8,072 new cases on Wednesday and a further 813 deaths, bringing the total death toll to 62,969.
Merkel has so far made clear she wants a seven-day incidence of 50 cases per 100,000 people to be the benchmark for a lifting of the restrictions.
On Wednesday, that number was 68.0, having fallen from a high near 200 in late December. It was last below 50 in October.
(Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Gareth Jones)
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here
Comments
0 comment