BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany plans to extend restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus till March 14, a draft agreement for talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of the 16 federal states on Wednesday showed.
The number of new daily infections in Germany has been falling, leading some regional leaders to push for a timetable to ease the lockdown, however, concerns are growing about the impact of more infectious strains of the virus on case numbers.
“We have an extremely fragile situation,” Winfried Kretschmann, Greens premier of the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, informed Spiegel online. “We can see in different nations, such as Portugal, how quickly the tide can turn.”
The draft doc for the talks, which begin within the afternoon, says that hairdressers may reopen under strict circumstances from March 1. The draft is subject to alteration.
Merkel has made clear that primary schools and nurseries will take priority in any easing. The draft agreement stated that individual states can decide on how to re-start classes.
“If the infection figures continue to fall reliably, the highest priority is clearly on the youngest kids,” stated Kretschmann.
Merkel has in the past also made clear she needs a seven-day incidence of 50 cases per 100,000 individuals to be the benchmark for restrictions to be lifted. That number currently stands at 68, according to data revealed by the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases on Wednesday.
Germany reported 8,072 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and a further 813 deaths, bringing the total demise toll to 62,969.
