Merkel wants lockdown extended to March 14th

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) wants the lockdown to be extended by another month, until March 14. That's according to an updated draft resolution, published by the Süddeutsche Zeitung. Furthermore, citizens will only be allowed to meet with one person who is not part of their own household. Medical masks in stores and local transport will remain compulsory and employers will continue to be encouraged to allow generous home office arrangements. Starting March 1, however, hairdressers will be allowed to return to reopen.

Regarding schools and daycare centers, the draft states that "openings in the care and education sector" have priority: "This sector should therefore be the first to be gradually reopened," with masks, ventilation and more rapid tests. Responsible for this are the federal states, it says.

Regarding the easing of lockdown in March, no concrete proposal is outlined in the draft. Instead, two alternatives are mentioned. Either, the paper says, the roundtable of federal and state governments could meet again on March 10th to discuss the issue. Or the coming reopening steps could be made dependent on the number of new infections: In that case, the next steps could be taken "at a stable Germany-wide seven-day incidence of no more than 35 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants," it says.

Next would come the gradual opening of retail trade with a limited number of customers, the opening of museums and galleries as well as the opening of other service businesses could be on the agenda. Only in states and counties that remain above the seven-day incidence of 50 are measures to remain more stringent.

Image by Jonas Schmidt