Berlin – As long as the spread of the coronavirus in Germany does not slow down significantly, the federal government does not want to present a schedule for a gradual return to normal.
A week after the introduction of strict contact restrictions, it was clear that “we need all measures unabated,” said government spokesman Steffen Seibert.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) would be the first to announce a relaxation of these strict measures, he added. But she was convinced that it would be wrong to raise hopes now that could not be fulfilled. Nevertheless, it was clear that “there will be a time after,” said Seibert.
Merkel and the prime ministers have scheduled a conference call this Wednesday. According to Seibert, one of the topics will be a joint inventory.
The CDU leadership has also warned against discussing the end of the measures against the spread of the coronavirus. CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said on Monday, according to party circles, at a switching conference with the party presidium that the virus had “all of Europe and the world under control”””. In the current situation, people would expect good crisis management.
In a conference call following the bureau, Kramp-Karrenbauer said: «We were all very, very agreed that we have to tell people very honestly that the measures as they are now set to continue at least until Easter – until April 20. » Then it would be possible to see for the first time whether the measures had the hoped-for success. “Only then can you start thinking about how it could possibly go on,” said the party leader. It was agreed “that we should not raise false hopes”.
From party circles, it was said that only when the time to double the number of infected people was ten days, would one be on the right track.
The CDU leadership, therefore, emphasized that the immediate program for the self-employed and solo entrepreneurs, which had been quickly decided by the Bundestag and Bundesrat, had been launched on the weekend with the 16 countries. For example, there have already been 150,000 applications for state financial aid in North Rhine-Westphalia – 100,000 applications have already been approved there. Farmers could also make these requests.
Meanwhile, the Berlin police have complained that there are occasional attacks with spitting and coughing against police officers during the controls on the Corona rules. The population is largely exemplary, said police chief Barbara Slowik. “But we have individual exceptions where we are spat at or coughed up. This is absolutely beyond my understanding. I think that’s incredible. We will treat this as dangerous bodily harm.
