The continuation of the “partial lockdown” until the beginning of January, with some relaxation for the Christmas period, announced the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, emphasizing that “the situation does not allow us to lift the restrictions of November”.
As Angela Merkel stressed, services in the Churches for Christmas Eve and the rest of the days should also be avoided, but specific agreements with the religious community will be sought in the near future.
After 7.5 hours of consultations with the Prime Ministers of the states, the Chancellor announced that the exponential increase in the number of cases has been stopped, but “we can in no way be satisfied with this partial success”.
Thus, from December 1, private meetings of up to five people from two households will be allowed, with the exception of children under 14 years of age.
Schools across the country will be closed for holidays on December 19, instead of the scheduled 21 or 23.
Restaurants will continue to operate only for takeaway, while hotels will continue to accept only non-tourist overnight stays and no in-country skiing holidays will take place until January 10 – respectively, citizens are kindly requested not to travel abroad for tourism.
