BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st December, 2020) German authorities are considering extending the strict lockdown measures beyond the original scheduled date of January 10 time line as the daily number of deaths in the country exceeded 1,000 for the first time, media reported Wednesday.
According to German outlet Bild, Federal and regional leaders at a virtual meeting on Wednesday discussed the possibility of adding another two or three weeks to the current lockdown - either to 24 or 31 January. The outlet reported that the participants of the closed videoconference were divided on a number of issues regarding ongoing restrictions, especially extending remote learning for schools.
Several high-ranking officials have recently hinted that the lockdowns may indeed be prolonged, including Economy Minister Peter Altmaier who said Germans can expect some restrictions on movement to remain through late spring.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to meet with heads of federal states on January 5 to decide on the restrictions policies moving forward. Merkel earlier set out the target of lifting the lockdown when infection rates go below 50 cases per 100,000 people, something only a handful of regions can currently boast of.
The EU's largest economy has been under strict lockdown since December 16 since the so-called Lockdown Light measures throughout November registered no slowdown in the rate of transmissions.
Germany has registered over 1.7 million cases of COVID-19 in total with 32,854 deaths as a result, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases. A day prior, the RKI posted a daily death toll of 1,244.
