Federal states want to extend lockdown restrictions into April

A draft plan to extend Germany’s lockdown restrictions into next month is set to be discussed by Angela Merkel and the state leaders on Monday, as a third coronavirus wave sweeps across the country.

Extending lockdown

Several German states are looking to extend the country’s lockdown restrictions into April as the number of coronavirus infections continues to rise in the Federal Republic. A draft plan, which discusses indoor social contact, rapid coronavirus tests and international travel, is set to serve as the basis for the meeting between Angela Merkel and the state premiers today.

The plan looks at bringing indoor social contact to a minimum and makes provisions for at least two rapid coronavirus tests per week for employees who have to still go to the workplace. The draft plan also states that international travel should be kept to a minimum and anyone returning to Germany must hold a negative coronavirus test and will be subject to quarantine restrictions.

Unrest growing over lockdown restrictions

To combat the spread of the coronavirus in Germany, regions are obliged to return to a hard lockdown, where schools and businesses are forced to close, should the seven-day coronavirus incidence rate rise above 100. However, the head of the Association of German Cities, Burkhard Jung, has called on the federal government to remove this obligation for local authorities. “We should introduce a new COVID indicator in Germany that also takes into account the vaccination rate, the burden on intensive care units, and case mortality,” said Jung.

Despite the rising number of infections, many towns, regions and cities in Germany are against returning to a hard lockdown. “I am worried that the current policy of the federal and state governments is losing support among city mayors,” Jung, who is also the mayor of Leipzig, warned. Hamburg already returned to a hard lockdown on Friday, after the incidence rate passed 100 for four consecutive days, as has Nuremberg and Regensburg. However, several smaller districts and towns across the country are against returning to a hard lockdown.

State leaders dispute incidence rate

State leaders have disagreed over how the seven-day incidence rate should be used to implement further restrictions. Bavarian premier Markus Söder has demanded that emergency measures need to be used equally and consistently across the whole of Germany. “Otherwise it will be a toothless tiger and its effectiveness will fizzle out,” he told reporters. Söder also rejected any further easing of restrictions.

On the other hand, other state premiers are calling for restrictions to be further eased before Easter. “With regard to the Easter break, holidays could be possible for children within Saxony-Anhalt’s borders, for example in the Harz mountains,” said Reiner Haseloff, state premier of Saxony-Anhalt. Similarly, Malu Dreyer, premier of Rhineland-Palatinate, has called for restrictions to be eased “so that people can go hiking and stop at a beer garden in our state during the upcoming Easter holidays instead of flying to Majorca and partying there.