Dhe lockdown to fight the corona pandemic in Germany will be extended to March 28th given the continued high number of infections However, there should be many opening options depending on the infection situation. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the state prime ministers decided on Wednesday in more than nine hours of negotiations. Previously, loosening was only planned from an incidence of 35, but now this number is no longer a relevant benchmark for opening measures. Instead, they become possible from an incidence value of less than 100; they can be more comprehensive if the value is below 50.
The federal government and the federal states agreed on a step-by-step opening strategy with a built-in emergency brake: If individual loosenings lead to a sharp increase in the number of infections in a region, all the alleviations that have already been made are automatically canceled there.
The health authorities in Germany reported 11,912 new corona infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) within one day. In addition, 359 additional deaths were recorded within 24 hours. That came out from numbers of the RKI from Thursday. According to the RKI, the number of new infections reported within seven days per 100,000 inhabitants (seven-day incidence) was 64.7 nationwide in the morning and thus slightly higher than the previous day (64.0).
Merkel and the heads of government of the countries recognized in their deliberations that there is a strong desire for easing among citizens and business. However, they referred to the still high number of new infections and the advance of the virus variants that are considered particularly contagious. There was clear criticism of the resolutions from both the opposition and the municipal level.
Resolutions of the federal-state summit in full (PDF)
Germany has shown strength in its response to the second wave of the pandemic, Merkel said after the deliberations. “And now the task of politics is to take the next steps wisely. There should be steps towards opening up and at the same time steps that should not set us back in the pandemic. “In Europe there are many examples of a” dramatic third wave, “said the Chancellor. “This danger, we mustn’t kid ourselves, also exists for us.” However, Merkel emphasized: “Spring 2021 will be different than spring a year ago.” In the meantime, they have two strong helpers in combating the pandemic: the vaccines and the extended test options.
–
Image: Federal Government
–
More contact options again – faster vaccinations
The Chancellor made it clear that the vaccination campaign should be accelerated. “We believe that we still have room for improvement here,” she said. It was agreed that at the end of March / beginning of April the general practitioners’ and specialist practices would be fully involved in the vaccination campaign. Free rapid tests – at least one per week for each citizen – are due to come from next week. The federal government wants to cover the costs. The federal and state governments also expect companies, as a contribution to society as a whole, to offer their employees in attendance at least one free quick test per week.
– .
