Merkel for, others against
German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to keep the restrictions on suppressing the spread of the coronavirus until at least March 1.
Merkel and the leaders of 16 German states should meet tomorrow to discuss whether steps can be taken to mitigate the measures that have been in force since November, and were tightened in mid-December, Reuters reports.
“We have to wait until March 1. My goal would be not to have to correct the reopening by introducing another lockdown,” the chancellor said.
Elementary schools, nurseries, hairdressers and retailers would have priority in any mitigation, but the overall goal was to avoid a new lockdown, Merkel said.
Daniel Günther, Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein and a high-ranking member of the conservative party of Angela Merkel, openly disputed her appeal.
He said that the first steps for easing the locking measures should be possible this month, and that he received support for his position from other state minister presidents.
Although the number of new daily infections is declining, there is growing concern about the impact of more contagious strains of the virus on the number of cases.
Merkel told the participants in the meeting that the share of corona virus infections caused by the new strain of the virus, which was first discovered in Britain, is doubling every 10 days, and that it could soon become the dominant variant in Germany. She also called for a seven-day incidence of 50 cases per 100.000 people to be a benchmark for lifting the restrictions, meeting participants said.
Germany reported 3.379 new cases of coronavirus and another 481 deaths on Tuesday. The seven-day incidence nationwide was 72.8 cases per 100.000.
