Germany is not planning to relax current restrictions on public life before April 20, Helge Braun, the head of Angela Merkel's Chancellery, has told a national newspaper, EDNews reports citing Deutsche Welle.
Braun made the comments just days after the country introduced sweeping nationwide measures in a bid to slow the spread of COVID-19. This week, most food and entertainment outlets shut down, along with schools, universities and non-essential shops.
"We will not discuss any relaxing [of restrictions] until April 20, and until then, all measures will remain in place," Braun told Der Tagesspiegel, adding that it should be clear after Easter whether the restrictions have slowed the spread of coronavirus.
"If we manage to slow the rate of infection so that it takes ten, twelve or more days for cases to double, then we know we're on the right track," said Braun.
Coronavirus infection rates in German are currently doubling every three to five days. The latest figures for the country from Johns Hopkins University show over 53,000 infected and 395 deaths.