Germany extends lockdown until Jan. 31 and toughens curbs

BERLIN » The German government said Tuesday it is extending the country’s lockdown by three weeks until Jan. 31, tightening curbs on social contacts and planning limits on people’s movements in the worst-affected regions as it tries to reduce stubbornly high infection figures and worrying numbers of coronavirus-related deaths.

Chancel lor Angela Merkel said it was “absolutely necessary” to maintain restrictions, particularly in light of a more infectious variant of the virus that emerged in England.

“We must reach a point where we can once again follow the chains of infection,” Merkel said after a lengthy videoconference with Germany’s 16 state governors. “Otherwise, we will just go keep going back into a lockdown after a short relaxation.”

The chancellor said that restrictions on social contacts will be tightened. People will be allowed to meet only one person outside their own household.

In a new move, authorities across Germany will allow people in areas with more than 200 new infections per 100,000 residents over seven days to travel only 15 kilometers ( just over nine miles) from their hometown unless they have a good reason to go further.

“In particular, day trips are not a good reason,” Merkel said. She pointed to a string of recent incidents in which day- trippers hoping to ski or sled have overrun winter resorts even though lifts and other facilities are closed.

Merkel and the governors plan to confer again Jan. 25 on what happens after the end of the month.

Germany launched a nationwide partial shutdown on Nov. 2, closing restaurants, bars, leisure and sports facilities. That failed to reduce infections, and the current lockdown — which also closed nonessential shops and schools — took effect Dec. 16. It was initially due to run through Jan. 10.

Authorities say Germany’s reported numbers for COVID-19 cases are distorted by lower testing and delayed reporting over the Christmas and New Year’s period. The country’s disease control center says it expects to have a reliable picture of what is going on only from Jan. 17, Merkel said.