Germany extends Covid-19 lockdown to March 7

Berlin, Feb 11 : Germany will extend lockdown efforts to contain the Covid-19 pandemic for three more weeks till March 7, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the 16 federal state leaders decided on Wednesday.
According to the decision paper published following a video conference, the restrictions tackling the spread of the virus, which are due on February 14, will extend to March 7, the Xinhua news agency reported.
More restrictive measures will be relaxed only when the seven-day incidence rate is stable at 35, which means that 35 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the decision paper. When the figure is reached, businesses, museums and galleries are able to reopen.
The seven-day incidence rate fell to 68 on Wednesday from the highest point of 198 on December 22, according to Germany’s federal disease control agency Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
Germany imposed a partial lockdown from the beginning of November, and then tightened restrictions in the middle of December as new infection numbers soared.
Although the number of daily new infections is dropping from over 30,000 to less than 10,000 right now, Merkel and other officials are worried about the highly infectious virus variants.