Germany will extend its lockdown until April 18 and is asking citizens to stay at home. In a press conference in the middle of the night, at the end of an 11-hour meeting with the presidents of the 16 landers, Chancellor Angela Mekel defines the situation on the Covid front as “very serious” and says no to progressive reopening. The variants of the virus have pushed up the number of infections and the concern and that the hospital situation could collapse.
“The numbers are growing exponentially due to the English variant,” Merkel stressed, and the risk is that the resurgence of the virus could cause the vaccination campaign to fail. This is why the Germans must prepare for an Easter in lockdown. Between 1 and 5 April contacts will be reduced to a minimum and only food shops will remain open on Holy Saturday. Churches will be asked to celebrate their services online. All travel abroad is not recommended and anyone returning to the country by plane will need to be tested before the flight.
To combat the pandemic, public, economic and private life in Germany will be ‘frozen’ during Easter like never before during the crisis. For this purpose, Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday will be defined as one-off weekdays, with broad contact restrictions. In landers with higher incidences of infections, the current restrictions will be further tightened. Among the measures envisaged are the introduction of a curfew and the obligation for passengers to wear masks even in private cars. According to the chancellor, the Easter holidays must become a “period of calm”. The third wave must be stopped at all costs. Germany is in a “very, very serious situation” due to the spread of variants of the virus and the increase in infections. The crucial terms are “caution and flexibility,” Merkel added. “We have not yet managed to defeat Covid, the virus does not give up”, he concluded.
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