Angela Merkel calls for national lockdown to curb Germany’s coronavirus crisis

Angela Merkel has called for a ‘short national lockdown‘ to curb Germany‘s coronavirus crisis just two weeks after she apologised for suggesting a five-day Easter shutdown.

The country is struggling to tackle a third wave of the pandemic and has recorded an average of 15,000 cases every day for the last week – the fifth highest infection rate in Europe.

Chancellor Merkel’s spokeswoman today announced her boss was backing calls from several federal leaders for a short, sharp lockdown as the country tries to vaccinate as many people as it can.  

It comes a fortnight after Merkel made a humiliating apology for the ‘mistake’ of trying to impose a five-day Easter lockdown. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a cabinet meeting in Berlin last week

The Christian Democrat leader was forced to beat a swift retreat after she provoked uproar with her plan to close all shops from April 1 to April 5. 

‘I deeply regret it, and for that, I ask all citizens’ forgiveness,’ the 66-year-old leader said in a grovelling speech in parliament.

‘The mistake is my mistake alone,’ Merkel added. ‘A mistake must be called just that.’

But today, her spokeswoman, Ulrike Demmer signalled another flip-flop by the Chancellor as she told reporters that a rising number of intensive care patients meant ‘every call for a short, uniform lockdown is right.’ 

‘We need a stable incidence below 100,’ she said, referring to the number of cases over seven days per 100,000 inhabitants.

The incidence rate is currently 110.1, according to the Robert Koch Institute. 

At their last meeting in March, Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 states agreed national rules including strict shutdowns and possible curfews in areas with more than 100 new infections per 100,000 people over seven days.

But under Germany’s federal system, each state can ultimately decide its own rules. 

Some have failed to impose more restrictions in the face of more cases and even gone ahead with reopening measures.

The patchwork of rules ‘is not contributing to security and acceptance at the moment,’ Demmer told reporters.

‘The health system is under intense pressure,’ she said, noting a five percent increase in occupied intensive care beds in just 24 hours. 

Voices calling for a short, sharp shutdown in recent days have included Armin Laschet, the head of Merkel’s CDU party, who called for a ‘bridge lockdown’ to tide the country over until more people have been vaccinated.

Merkel and the regional leaders are next due to meet on Monday. 

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose by 9,677 on Wednesday to more than 2.9 million, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said.

It has warned that the numbers may not yet show the full picture as not all cases were registered over Easter. Some 77,401 people have died.