Merkel Says Germany Virus Lockdown Rules Unlikely to Be Eased

(Bloomberg) --

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country’s lockdown rules are unlikely to be relaxed to protect the health-care system.

“The number of new infections doesn’t give reason to ease the rules,” Merkel said in her podcast Saturday.

Her chief of staff, Helge Braun, separately told newspaper Der Tagesspiegel it has been decided to keep the current measures largely in place until April 20.

Lockdown rules can be eased only if new infections don’t double within a 10-day period, Merkel said. The number is currently rising twofold every 5 1/2 days, but infection rates have slowed from the beginning of the outbreak in the country, according to the chancellor.

“Should we be able to quantify the success of our measures in the coming days, we’ll work out a strategy for the time after April 20,” Braun said. A vaccine needs to be in place before the country can fully return to normal life, he said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.