Merkel seeks another four weeks of blockade in the coup for Germany

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Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed to keep German blocking restrictions in place for another four weeks after Covid-19’s cases have risen beyond a level that could lead to government action to avoid overloading medical care.

The plan would extend the existing brakes until April 18, according to a chancellery project seen by Bloomberg. Merkel and regional government leaders will discuss the proposals on Monday, during negotiations on how to proceed with the blockade amid an upward infection curve in Europe’s largest economy.

With much of Europe going for the Easter holiday in late March, the draft suggests mandatory quarantines and Covid tests for travelers returning to Germany, while indicating that authorities have not yet agreed to this measure.

For hard-hit areas in Germany, other possible restrictions where a final decision is pending include night curfew until 5 am and closing schools and daycare centers if teachers and students are unable to take the test twice a week.

Cases in Germany are increasing again after authorities it began to loosen restrictions in late February and outlined a plan to gradually narrow the curbs. That plan depends on the trend of infection, raising the stakes for Monday’s talks after the number of cases has increased in the past few days.

The national seven-day infection rate per 100,000 people has risen to 103.9, according to the Robert Koch Institute’s health agency. reported on Sunday, the highest since January 26. Data from Johns Hopkins University showed that German cases increased by 24,034 in the 24 hours to Sunday, compared with 10,568 in the previous week.

The resurgence of the pandemic has prompted some health experts to warn that hospital intensive car units are at risk of being overwhelmed in a few weeks if the exponential growth of cases continues. On Sunday, the number of Covid-19 intensive care patients rose to 3,056, the highest in almost a month.

Resurgence outbreak

The spread of coronavirus in Germany has accelerated in recent days

Source: Robert Koch Institute

Germany uses the incidence rate as a gauge for the Covid-19 spread. If it exceeds 100 for three consecutive days in a given region, an “emergency brake” clause allows authorities to tighten blocking measures. That limit was exceeded in 9 of the 16 federal states as of Sunday, which has prompted some regional leaders to call for uniform national measures for critical virus hotspots.

“We have an instrument that works: the emergency brake. It must be applied consistently across Germany, ”Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an interview. “Otherwise, he will become a toothless tiger.”

Regional leaders expressed differing opinions on what to do before the Easter holiday, when questioned by the Welt am Sonntag. Reiner Haseloff, Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, said people should be able to take vacations within the limits of their own region. The Prime Minister of the state of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow, begged people to avoid all holidays.

“Anyone who believes that it is possible to open entire holiday regions without testing in the current phase of the pandemic does not know what is happening,” Ramelow told the newspaper.

Incidence rate: nine states above the limit

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union suffered defeat in two regional elections this month. The faltering pace of the vaccine’s release, irritation at the blocking restrictions in place since late last year, and a growing scandal over allegations that some conservative lawmakers profited from the pandemic, all affected its popularity.

Even so, the chancellor prepared the public for unpopular decisions at Monday’s meeting.

“We are seeing exponential growth” in cases, she said on Friday. “Unfortunately, we will have to use the handbrake.”

(Updates with the draft chancellery proposing the blockade until April 18.)