Strict measures to protect against corona will apply at least until April 18, and some openings will be withdrawn.
The third wave is to be broken with Germany largely standing still for five days over Easter.
In view of the drastically increasing number of corona infections, the federal and state governments are sending all of Germany into the sharpest lockdown since the pandemic began a year ago.
From April 1st to 5th inclusive, i.e. from Maundy Thursday to Easter Monday, public, private and economic life is to be largely shut down in order to break the third wave of the pandemic.
This was decided by Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the Prime Ministers of the federal states in a
more than eleven-hour marathon meeting on Tuesday night.
Corona summit: Merkel sees a very serious situation - lockdown will be extended
The tough lockdown to combat the corona pandemic, which has been in place for more than three months, will be extended by a total of three weeks until April 18.
On April 12th there will be a discussion about how to proceed afterwards.
"We have not yet been able to defeat the virus, it will not give up," Merkel justified the tough measures early on Tuesday morning.
Germany is in a very serious situation with exponentially increasing numbers of cases, increasing stress on intensive care units in clinics and the spread of more contagious coronavirus variants.
Merkel calls the particularly sharp lockdown over Easter a "break".
More information in the video.
List of rubric lists: © Michael Kappeler / dpa