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Monday 23 November 2020
The partial blockade in Germany does not end at the end of the month: Prime ministers agree that restrictions on contacts and public life will continue. The new deadline is now December 20.
In view of the persistently high number of corona infections, countries want to extend the partial lockdown until December 20. The Prime Ministers agreed to this at an exchange conference on Monday evening, as the German Press Agency learned from the participants. A final decision must be made in deliberations by the federal and state governments on Wednesday.
If the partial closure is extended, restaurants, as well as leisure and cultural facilities that have been closed since early November will remain closed. With the extension of the measures, the high contagion rates must be eliminated. The prime ministers’ deliberations lasted 4.5 hours. Participants spoke of good advice. On Tuesday the consultations between the heads of the state chancelleries and the head of the chancellery, Helge Braun, will be renewed.
The federal government had already promised to extend November aid to support businesses affected by the closures, as well as the self-employed like artists, if the partial closure is extended. This is likely to cost billions more.
Over the weekend, politicians at the federal and state levels had already prepared citizens for an extension of the contact restrictions that initially apply until the end of November. The Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, stressed that the heads of government of the federal states agreed that there was no time for relaxation: “We are therefore advocating an extension of the partial closure.” Tighter contact restrictions for private gatherings and possibly an expanded mask requirement in schools were also discussed. Like the CDU politician Haseloff, the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig, also campaigned for the relaxation of contact restrictions on Christmas days and at the turn of the year.
