Berlin is Considering Longer Lockdown, But With Some Relaxation

The German government is proposing to extend the lockdown that expires on Sunday until March 28 but is also planning some relaxation in the area of personal contacts.

 

More people are allowed to be together or visit each other. This is reported by the magazine Focus based on documents prepared for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s consultation with the heads of government of the sixteen states on Wednesday.

The current lockdown ends on Sunday, and a recent poll says that only 26 percent of those questioned are behind strict corona measures. When the last lockdown was imposed in mid-December, that percentage was 73 percent.

It is unclear whether the lockdown will indeed be extended until the end of this month. At the federal government and the federal states’ corona consultations, it is typical for the ‘Bundesländer’ to go much less far than Merkel and her cabinet.

And in the German system, the federal states largely determine the corona policy themselves. There is no curfew in Germany, but the catering industry is closed like many other businesses.