Monday, January 4th, 2021
Federal states largely agree
Longer lockdown more and more likely
One day before the federal-state consultations on the pandemic situation, there is apparently agreement on the most important item on the agenda: According to reports, everything points to an extension of the lockdown until the end of the month. A corresponding recommendation also comes from business.
According to media reports, the heads of government of the countries have agreed to extend the lockdown. "All but two countries are for the end of January," reports Reuters, citing negotiating circles. On Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the state leaders want to make a final decision on the restrictions on public life that have been in effect since mid-December. They want to talk to experts about the situation as early as late Monday afternoon. Also on this Monday, the ministers of education are discussing whether at least the primary schools should be reopened from January 11th – but possibly without a requirement for schoolchildren to be present.
The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, has already openly spoken out in favor of extending the lockdown until January 31. The majority of the other country leaders are of the same opinion, said the SPD politician in the SWR. "Unfortunately, we do not yet have the figures we need – and above all, too little clarity due to the holidays at the end of the year," she said, referring to the infection rate. "At the moment we cannot really estimate what the situation is like, also because less has been tested." Therefore it is good to stay in the shutdown until the end of January. She also stressed that economic aid must be retained.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder had previously called for a lockdown extension until the end of January. "Unfortunately, we have to extend the lockdown until the end of January," he told the "Bild" newspaper. According to the CSU politician, there are "never any guarantees of how things will continue".
The head of the German Institute for Economic Research, based in Berlin, Marcel Fratzscher, sees an extension of the hard lockdown necessary for economic reasons. The top priority must have the fastest possible control and containment of the second wave of infections, said Fratzscher. The restrictions are painful and associated with high costs for the industries concerned: "Without the lockdown extension, however, the economic costs of a long-lasting second wave of infections would be significantly higher," said the DIW director. Politicians will also have to extend and expand support for the economy, because companies are increasingly in trouble.
The total number of infections detected since the start of the coronavirus outbreak rose to a total of 1,776,943 laboratory-confirmed infections in the reporting data of the federal states evaluated by ntv.de by Sunday evening, January 3, 2021. In a comparison of several weeks it becomes clear that the number of cases is still at a very high level. In the seven-day trend, an average of around 17,860 cases are currently reported per day. In addition, the official censuses show that a total of 34,615 people in Germany have died in connection with Covid-19 disease since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.
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