BERLIN (Reuters) Chancellor Angela Merkel backs demands for a short, hard lockdown in Germany to stop the spread of the coronavirus as infection rates are too high, a German government spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Germany is struggling to tackle a third wave of the pandemic, and several regional leaders have called for a short, sharp lockdown as the country tries to vaccinate more people.
“Any call for a short, uniform lockdown is correct,” Deputy Government Spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters, adding that Germany was seeing a growing number of intensive care patients.
“We need a stable incidence below 100,” she said, referring to the number of cases per 100,000 residents over seven days. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, it is currently 110.1.
She also said the government was looking into whether national, rather than regional, measures were needed.
“The range of prescriptions does not help acceptance,” said Demmer. While some states have imposed curfews at Easter, others are experimenting with relaxing restrictions.
Merkel urged regional leaders on March 28 to step up efforts to curb the rapidly rising coronavirus infections, adding a thinly veiled threat she would otherwise have to consider what steps could be taken on a nationwide basis.
One option would be to amend the Infection Protection Act to determine what should happen under certain scenarios and allow the federal government to enforce a nationwide lockdown without approval from the 16 prime ministers.
Demmer said the government was still investigating this option, but no final decision had yet been made.
The Bild newspaper reported that conservative lawmakers are currently working on a bill to give the federal government more powers to get the third wave under control.
The majority of the prime ministers of the German Länder opposed the advance of the talks scheduled for April 12 on the action to be taken.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose by 9,677 to more than 2.9 million on Wednesday, according to the Robert Koch Institute. It has warned that the numbers may not yet show the full picture, as not all cases were recorded at Easter. About 77,401 people died.
Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Michael Nienaber; Madeline Chambers writing; Adaptation by Maria Sheahan, Kirsti Knolle