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Saarbrücken (dpa / lrs) - Saarland must continue to prepare for restrictions in the corona pandemic.
The lockdown will be extended to March 28th, announced the Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans after consultations with his counterparts and Chancellor Angela Merkel (both CDU) on Thursday night.
However, slight easing in connection with an expansion of the corona tests are planned.
"We can't keep the country in permanent lockdown for months," said Hans.
For this reason, cautious easements have also been agreed.
More rapid tests could help to responsibly accompany opening steps and additionally secure them.
"The Prime Minister's Conference showed that the Saarland is exemplary in terms of the number of tests and examinations for mutations."
However, one also has to make full use of technological possibilities quickly.
"The faster we vaccinate, the more we test and the better we understand contacts, the more effectively we keep Corona at bay."
The country leaders had agreed with the Chancellor that the lockdown to combat the corona pandemic in Germany will be extended in principle.
However, depending on the infection, there should be many opening options.
A step-by-step opening strategy with a built-in emergency brake was agreed: If individual loosening leads to a sharp increase in the number of infections in a region, all the alleviations that have already been made are automatically canceled.
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According to Hans, extensive loosening is initially irresponsible due to the renewed increase in the number of infections, and contact reduction remains the essential tool for combating the pandemic.
However, differentiated according to the incidence of infection and increased rapid tests, the federal states could make the first cautious alleviations.
This applies to private gatherings, flower shops, garden centers, body-hugging services, driving schools and bookstores.
An opening scenario for the case of falling incidences was developed for the other areas.
Initially, Hans did not provide details on the implementation and schedule of the resolutions in Saarland.
The adopted measures would initially apply until March 28th.
On March 22nd, the federal and state governments want to discuss how to proceed again.
The Saarland is geographically in a special position, as it borders on the French border region Moselle, which has been designated as a virus variant area since Tuesday.
The département, which has around one million inhabitants, has to struggle with the South African variant in particular.
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The previous Corona regulation expires in Saarland on March 7th.
The first steps have already been taken to open it.
Hairdressers have been reopened under strict conditions since Monday.
In addition, shopping in the outdoor areas of garden centers is possible again, as is “appointment shopping” in shops with a maximum of two people from one household.
Since February 22nd, elementary schools have been in alternating instruction, daycare centers are back to normal.
The seven-day incidence - i.e. the number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days - was 69.2 in Saarland on Wednesday.
Public life in Saarland has been drastically reduced since mid-December.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210304-99-680536 / 2