Merkel ditches stricter Easter lockdown plans after backlash

Chancellor Angela Merkel has scrapped a plan agreed on Tuesday for an extended Easter in an attempt to halt a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, apologizing to lockdown-weary Germans after the hastily devised plan sparked a massive backlash.

Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 states agreed to call on Germans to stay at home for five days over the Easter holidays, declaring April 1 and 3 as extra “rest days,” in negotiations that lasted into the early hours of Tuesday.

The measure would have included the closure of all stores, including essential ones, for four of the five days and raised

“The idea of an Easter shutdown was drafted with the best of intentions. We urgently need to stop and reverse the third wave of the pandemic,” she said.

But it was not possible to implement the hastily agreed measures so quickly, Merkel said, and apologised for added uncertainty that it had raised for Germans.

“This mistake is mine alone,” she said.

Her comments came against a backdrop of growing public frustration with the conservative-led government over the slow rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and extended lockdown measures.