Germany, lockdown since Wednesday: here’s the plan

Published on: 12/13/2020 9:54 AM

Germany towards a new blockade from Wednesday. Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet today with Laender representatives to discuss the plan already drawn up and anticipated by the media, starting with the Dpa agency. The document provides for the closure of all stores except essential stores from Wednesday to January 10 and also recommends major restrictions for schools and kindergartens. The plan would be agreed with several states individually during preliminary talks with the federal government. Today’s videoconference meetings should give the green light and the launch of a national strategy.

In mid-November, the Laenders implemented a partial closure, which kept stores and schools open, without achieving the desired results to combat the spread of the coronavirus. In recent days, the debate has focused on the start date of the new lockdown and positions in favor of an immediate closure before Christmas have increased. “Our society has to prepare for a hard shutdown, most likely before Christmas and not after,” said Winfried Kretschmann, Prime Minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

The plan calls for the Laenders to allow “meetings with five people plus children under the age of 14 in the immediate family circle between December 24 and 26.” During the entire time of the confinement, “children should be cared for at home whenever possible.”

The repression comes after the latest data highlighted by the Robert Kock Institute, which yesterday reported 20,200 new cases, a figure that raises the total number of confirmed infections from the pandemic so far to 1,320,716. The death toll increased by 321 to 21,787.