(Bloomberg) —
Chancellor Angela Merkel said tighter measures to contain the coronavirus in Germany will likely not be necessary as the slowing spread of the disease gives grounds for “cautious hope.”
The recent “very swift” increase in infections had raised concern that tougher restrictions might be needed, Merkel told reporters in Berlin on Thursday after a cabinet meeting.
“We can be very pleased that perhaps, as things stand, we can say that won’t be necessary,” she said, urging her compatriots to abide by measures over the coming Easter weekend to minimize contact with other people. “We must stay focused. The situation is fragile.”
As the pandemic maintains its grip over Europe, authorities are confronted between political pressure to reactivate battered economies and calls by health officials to maintain restrictions on public life to contain the disease.
State leaders must weigh evidence about the spread of the virus along with the damage caused by the lockdown when they meet on Wednesday to decide next steps, according to Armin Laschet, a Merkel party ally and the state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous region.
“The decision to lock down also caused damage,” Laschet said earlier Thursday, adding that small retailers and car dealerships may be able to put appropriate health measures in place to address the virus.
Still, Health Minister Jens Spahn warned that a return to normality will be a slow process over a period of months and starts with how Germans adhere to restrictions over the coming Easter weekend.
“We are still far away from day-to-day life as we knew it before coronavirus,” Spahn said. “We will need to do without many hard-won things in the coming weeks and months.”
The daily number of new cases ticked up on Thursday in Germany, rising 5,633 compared with a day-earlier jump of 4,288, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That put the total number of confirmed infections in Europe’s largest economy at 113,296, the fourth-highest in the world behind the U.S., Spain and Italy. Germany registered 333 new deaths from the virus, the highest daily toll so far.
Lothar Wieler, the head of Germany’s public-health institute, said Thursday the number of infections among older citizens is increasing and that’s likely to push up the death rate.
“We must continue with the restrictions over Easter and in the days after,” Merkel said. “Because we could very, very quickly destroy what we have achieved.”
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