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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has reversed a strict planned Easter shutdown, her CDU party chief said, amid massive criticism of the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 states agreed in marathon talks on Monday that almost all stores would close from April 1-5, and that only grocery stores would open on Saturday, April 3.
But now they have scrapped that measure, instead of appealing to the public to stay home for the Easter weekend, CDU chief Armin Laschet said at a meeting of the regional parliament in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. .
The leaders had agreed that the measure was “a mistake and could not be enforced in this way,” he said.
Merkel had called an unexpected crisis meeting this morning when a backlash over the pandemic measures sent her CDU party’s audience ratings plummeting.
The leaders were expected to “speak very critically about what happened two days ago,” Laschet said before the meeting.
“The idea of an Easter closure was drafted with the best of intentions. We urgently need to stop and reverse the third wave of the pandemic,” Merkel said.
But it was not possible to implement the hastily agreed measures so quickly, he said, apologizing for the additional uncertainty it had generated for the Germans.
“This mistake is mine alone,” he said.
Before a press conference, the news magazine Der Spiegel said that the chancellor had also admitted that the closure of Easter was a “mistake”.
The hardened shutdown had drawn harsh criticism, with the daily Bild calling the government’s handling of the pandemic a “disaster.”
“Merkel and the (regional leaders) have lost sight of the real problem,” he said.
Der Spiegel called the measures “scandal”, claiming that the government had “completely wrong priorities” and should instead focus on improving its vaccination campaign and testing strategy.
The number of infections continues to rise in Germany, with 15,813 new cases reported today in 24 hours by the health agency Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
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In addition to ordering the closure of Easter, Merkel and regional leaders agreed on Monday night to extend existing measures against the virus, including keeping cultural, leisure and sports facilities closed until April 18.
“The situation is dire. The number of cases is increasing exponentially and intensive care beds are filling up again,” he said after announcing the measures.
The variant first detected in the UK has become the dominant strain circulating in Germany, he said, noting: “We are in a new pandemic.”
But patience is wearing thin in the country due to a slow launch of vaccines, a late start to massive rapid tests and increased numbers of infections despite months of closures, with support for Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party in its lowest level for one year.
Europe’s main economy will elect a new government in September, as Merkel retires after 16 years in power.
Poland is likely to tighten restrictions as cases increase
Poland will likely have to tighten Covid-19 restrictions again after reporting what early figures suggest will be a record number of new infections, said the prime minister’s top adviser, Michal Dworczyk.
The government ordered the closing of theaters, shopping malls, hotels and cinemas last week following a spike in cases, driven by the variant of the coronavirus first detected in Britain.
But there have been growing media reports that he will have to introduce more restrictions ahead of the busy Easter holidays, usually marked by crowded religious services and family gatherings.
“We are waiting for the final data, but everything indicates that we will have more than 29,000 new infections,” Dworczyk told the private television network Polsat News.
That would break the daily record of 27,875 new cases reported in November.
“We cannot remain indifferent to this situation and we will have to make decisions that will be communicated tomorrow,” Dworczyk said.
He declined to provide details about the curbs.
Sweden to end travel ban for people traveling from Norway and Denmark
The Swedish government will end the travel ban for people traveling from Norway and Denmark to Sweden on March 31, as the measure is no longer necessary to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, it said.
All people traveling to Sweden will still need a negative Covid-19 test to enter the country.
“This means, among other things, that Norwegians and Danes can travel to their holiday homes in Sweden and that families and friends across borders can meet,” Interior Minister Mikael Damberg told a conference on press.
France continues to face several difficult weeks due to Covid: minister
France faces several difficult weeks ahead due to the new spread of Covid-19, which has prompted the government to enforce a new blockade in some parts of the country, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
“We still have several difficult weeks ahead of us,” he told BFM TV.
The head of the intensive care unit of a Paris hospital, Jean-Francois Timsit, told France Inter radio that next month will be “hellish” for the French hospital system due to the third wave of the disease.
Meanwhile, French infectologist Odile Launay has said that Pfizer and AstraZeneca Covid-19 injections are equally effective in severe cases of the disease.
On the other hand, France’s culture minister has been hospitalized with Covid-19, but his employment minister has been discharged after receiving treatment in recent days.
Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot, 74, will remain under surveillance for a few days, her ministry said in a statement, adding that her condition is stable.
The news came when Employment Minister Elizabeth Borne, 59, tweeted that she had left the hospital. She was hospitalized last Friday, eight days after testing positive for Covid-19.
President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for Covid-19 in December and had to isolate himself. At least eight ministers in his government, including Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, have tested positive for Covid-19 in recent months.
Paris and a large part of northern France, as well as the area around Nice in the Mediterranean, entered a third lockdown last weekend as the government tries to stem the spread of the virus.
India detects a new variant of the coronavirus
India’s Health Ministry said that a variant of the coronavirus had been detected in the country, in addition to many other worrying variants (VOCs) that are also found abroad.
“Although VOCs and a new double mutant variant have been found in India, they have not been detected in sufficient quantities to establish a direct relationship or explain the rapid increase in cases in some states,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.
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