Frankfurt
Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking to extend Germany’s partial lockdown into April as the country battles a third wave of the virus, according to a draft seen by AFP on Sunday.
The restrictions would be prolonged until a yet-to-be-determined date in April due to the high rate of infections at present, which are being “accelerated by Covid-19 variants”, the document said.
The draft is due to be discussed by Merkel and regional leaders of Germany’s 16 states on Monday.
Current restrictions are set to last until the end of March. With the rate of infections fast rising again, health authorities have warned against further easing any restrictions.
The incidence rate on Sunday reached 103.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Robert Koch institute disease control centre.
Breaking that 100 per 100,000 marker is in principle meant to trigger new restrictions.—AFP
