Germany to keep restaurants, hotels closed until Jan. 10

Germany is planning to extend restrictions on restaurants and hotels until Jan. 10, sources familiar with discussions between the federal government and 16 states said on Wednesday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is holding talks with regional governors on whether coronavirus lockdown measures introduced last month are enough to turn the tide.

While the daily rise in infection numbers has started to fall, Germany reported its highest single-day death toll since the start of the pandemic on Wednesday and regions that had been spared the worst of the virus are seeing case numbers surge.

Citing this reality, one state leader vowed to push for stricter measures at the talks with Merkel.

Sources familiar with the talks said Merkel and state leaders could decide on extending restrictions for restaurants and hotels in mid-December.

A partial lockdown that was imposed at the start of November was last week extended into December.

More than 17,000 new cases were reported overnight, and 487 deaths - a new daily record.

Michael Kretschmer, premier of Saxony, the most populous of the eastern German states, said his state would impose lockdown measures strictly given the speed at which the virus was spreading throughout the region.

"There are now restrictions on leaving home in almost the entire state," he told ZDF public television, adding that hospitals in the region were already seriously overburdened. "We need to act fast."

In the past, Germany's many regional and central government bodies have been at odds over how strictly to impose lockdown, since cases were concentrated in the south and west of the country.

While Merkel has always been in favour of stricter lockdowns, many of the regional premiers who have the final say in Germany's federal system were opposed. This is beginning to change.

Other than a few, mainly northern districts, the entire country is well above the rate of 50 new infections per 100,000 population per week that the government says is the fastest the virus can spread without overwhelming track and trace systems.

Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said more soldiers could be sent to join the 10,000 already working with public health authorities, where they are helping with efforts to track infections.