Germany has extended the coronavirus shutdown until Jan. 10, 2021 in an effort to control the spread of the deadly disease. The country has been under a partial lockdown since Nov. 2. The announcement was made on Wednesday by Chancellor Angela Merkel after her five-hour meeting with 16 German state leaders. "If the infection situation continues to develop as in the last days, we will meet again on Jan. 4th and the states are extending the directive (for a shutdown) to Jan. 10th," Merkel said in Berlin following the meeting. "In general, things will remain as they are now, with the exception, of course, of the Christmas arrangements, which were made especially for this purpose," said Merkel, pointing to the relaxed rules over the festive season to allow for more people to meet. The chancellor said the aim was to reduce the seven-day incidence (new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days) to less than 50. "We are a long way from achieving this," said Merkel. Last week, Merkel and state leaders had pushed the end date back to Dec. 20. The partial lockdown means restaurants, clubs and cultural institutions are shut down and most shops have strict limits on the number of customers they can admit at any one time. Berlin mayor Michael Müller said there had been positive signs but Germany was recording on average 170 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents in seven days. The Chancellor also said the increasing numbers of Covid-19 deaths in Germany shows "the responsibility we have". — Agencies
