Dc in total lockdown how to#

'Firms should not produce anything, traveling to work should only take place when it is absolutely necessary. Stephan Weil, Lower Saxony's state premier, backed the measures as he spoke of 'five days of hard lockdown over Easter.' 'It is no longer just about restrictions, it is no longer just about 'open - close, open - close.''

Dc in total lockdown how to#

Tuesday's decision represented a 'paradigm shift' on how to proceed in the pandemic, he said. Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller said it was important to win time until the vaccine becomes available. He cautioned that impatience should not become Germany's weakness. 'We are probably now living in the most dangerous phase of the pandemic,' Söder added, saying that many people underestimate the situation. The goal is to take the speed out of the virus, he said. 'We are having a de facto Easter lockdown,' Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder told reporters.

The meeting between Merkel and the state premiers lasted more than 10 hours What state leaders said 'This was not an easy decision, but in the end, the numbers are too high in Germany,' he said. So for political leaders, it was quite hard to tell people 'no,'' Sensburg said. 'We are quite close to the Easter holidays, and a lot of people wanted to go on holidays. Patrick Sensburg, a member of the German parliament from Merkel's governing CDU party, told DW that it was a tough decision for politicians to extend Germany's lockdown until April 18. Germany would have to be 'prudent and flexible' and was in a 'race against time' to vaccinate its population, she said. 'It really makes you a bit wistful about what we could have already achieved,' Merkel said, adding that the mutated virus has now 'basically eaten up' earlier gains. The new virus is 'significantly more deadly, significantly more infectious.' 'What we have is essentially a new pandemic,' she said. 'We are in a very, very serious situation' due to the spread of coronavirus variants in the country, Merkel told the press conference. If an area has an incidence rate of over 100 for three consecutive days, harsher lockdown measures will once again apply. This 'emergency brake' will halt further reopenings and will apply to areas exceeding 100 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over a seven-day period.

Anyone from Germany holidaying abroad will have to be tested before boarding a flight back to Germany.

Only grocery stores may open on Saturday, April 3. Almost all shops will be shut during the five days.Testing and vaccination centers can remain open.No more than five adults from two households will be able to meet over the five-day period.Churches will be asked to hold services marking the Christian festival online.What are the new measures?Īs well as prolonging existing measures such as the closure of cultural, leisure and sporting facilities, tougher restrictions will apply over the Easter period. Talks between leaders of Germany's 16 federal states and Merkel lasted until the early hours of the morning following a lengthy interruption. Tuesday's announcement marks a reversal from earlier this month when state leaders agreed to begin a cautious reopening process. Merkel warned that Germany needed to 'break the exponential growth of the third wave.' Case numbers have reached levels that authorities say will overburden intensive care units.

The country will enter an even stricter lockdown from April 1 to April 5 over the Easter holiday period, when shops, including grocery stores, will largely have to close. Germany is extending the current lockdown through to April 18, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced early Tuesday.