Actually, March 20 should be the day when almost all corona restrictions in Germany are lifted.

But while the political parties in Berlin are struggling to revise the Infection Protection Act, the federal states have reacted to the numerous new infections and are using a planned transitional period to be able to maintain many of the existing measures for a few more days.

Only the contact restrictions expire at the end of the week.

While Berlin and Saarland are extending the current rules – the main focus is on the obligation to wear masks and access restrictions – until March 31st, several other countries will keep them in place until April 2nd.

After Rhineland-Palatinate and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania announced this step on Monday, at least six other states followed suit on Tuesday.

Kim Bjorn Becker

Editor in Politics.

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Corinna Budras

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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"We are extending what is still possible and using the legal leeway," said Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder on Tuesday in Munich.

The extension of the current rules until the beginning of April is "the only way" to "gain a little security" in the coming days.

The cabinet in Munich had previously decided that the previous 2G and 3G access rules and the obligation to wear masks in schools and retail should remain in place for the time being.

Baden-Württemberg also wants to use the transition period, as Deputy Prime Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) announced in Stuttgart.

“The countries have to tackle it”

Several East German states joined in.

In Saxony, the obligation to wear masks indoors is to be extended until the beginning of April, and there are also said to be some access restrictions.

The state governments in Thuringia and Brandenburg are taking a similar approach.

In Potsdam, the cabinet wants to decide on Thursday how the transition will be specifically regulated, said a government spokesman.

Lower Saxony and Bremen also want to extend the protective measures.

Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) had previously recommended this route to the federal states.

“The countries have to tackle it.

Some states, such as Brandenburg, have now done so.

They go forward and say: We're extending almost everything we have, and then we'll take the new hotspot regulations," said Lauterbach on ARD in the morning.

In Schleswig-Holstein, where a new state parliament will be elected at the beginning of May, SPD top candidate Thomas Losse-Müller called for the existing corona rules to be extended until the beginning of April.

"In view of the high number of infections in Schleswig-Holstein, too, caution and health protection continue to have priority for me," he said.

"Our neighboring states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Hamburg want to extend their current corona rules until April 2nd." The state government in Kiel should follow this example.

So far, according to reports, these are planning to let the more extensive protective measures expire on Sunday – with the exception of the requirements for wearing protective masks.

A government spokesman said that "the state government already announced its phased plan for further action in mid-February".