Germany Plans to Extend Lockdown Until March 28 - Reports

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2021) Germany plans to extend the coronavirus lockdown past this Sunday to March 28 but will lift some curbs on social life and shopping, a draft agreement seen by media shows.

Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with regional governors on Wednesday to take stock of the progress in rolling back the pandemic, which has claimed 70,463 lives in Germany alone.

Guidelines drafted ahead of the meeting allow for larger groups of friends and relatives from two households to meet starting March 8, according to Focus Online, a news website.

Bookstores, flower and gardening shops will be allowed to reopen across the country. Regions with infections below 35 or 50 per 100,000 residents will have more freedom to reopen.

Regional authorities nevertheless insist on an "emergency brake" that will allow stricter rules to snap back into place if the number of infections rises above a certain value for three days in a row.