Update: Angela Merkel announced on Wednesday evening that the lockdown in Germany would be extended until March 7.

Ahead of today’s coronavirus summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed that current lockdown restrictions be extended until March 14. But she also has some alterations in mind: according to a draft resolution, hairdressers would be allowed to open sooner, while the reopening of schools would be left up to the federal states. 

Lockdown in Germany could be extended by another month

A few hours before deliberations between the federal and state governments were due to begin, the Chancellery circulated a draft resolution calling for the extension of the coronavirus lockdown until March 14. “The federal states will adapt their state regulations accordingly and extend them until March 14, 2021,” the paper states. 

In a previous version of this draft, which was seen by various media outlets on Tuesday evening, this end date was left open, although Angela Merkel had spoken out against easing restrictions before March 1. This is not the only thing that has changed. The new draft resolution also outlines several exceptions to the lockdown extension, namely:

• Hairdressers should be allowed to reopen from March 1, subject to conditions
• Federal states should decide for themselves whether and when to reopen schools and childcare centres

No other restrictions to be lifted for time being

Over the past few days, the government has come under mounting pressure to present a step-by-step plan for reopening the country - after several federal states put forward their own strategies - but Angela Merkel has remained adamant that, while infection numbers may be falling, reopening too soon risks jeopardising the shaky progress Germany had made over the past few weeks. “We would gain nothing if we left lockdown prematurely,” she is said to have said during an internal CDU meeting on Tuesday.

While the draft document praises Germany’s shutdown strategy, pointing to the sustained reduction in the coronavirus incidence rate since December, highly-contagious mutations of COVID-19 are still cited as a major cause for concern. The draft document is therefore cautious when it comes to further opening steps, proposing two potential scenarios.

The first would be to postpone a decision on this front until March 10, when the state and federal governments can make an informed decision “in light in the development of the number of infections.”

The document’s alternative suggestion is to only allow further re-openings once the Germany-wide seven-day incidence rate has been brought down to no more than 35 new infections per 100.000 inhabitants. This would include the reopening of shops, museums, galleries and other businesses. 

Wednesday’s coronavirus summit is due to commence at 11 am, when the state leaders will come together via video link to discuss the draft. They will be joined by Angela Merkel at 2 pm, and a decision will be announced at a press conference later in the day.