Merkel's Christian Democrats have seen support slip in the states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate where elections on Sunday will be a crucial gauge of popular feeling before a September federal election.On Saturday, the number of COVID-19 cases rose by 12,674 and the death toll was up 239, with the number of cases per 100,000 over seven days jumping to 76.1 from 72.4.
Leaders are due to meet again on Mar 22 to discuss whether any further relaxation of the rules is possible. However, the head of Germany's public health agency warned on Friday that the country is at the start of a third wave of the pandemic. Stefan Pilsinger, a doctor and member of parliament for the sister party of Merkel's ruling Christian Democrats, predicted that the spread of the British variant could cause a jump in cases like that seen around Christmas.
"The previous lockdown measures were already insufficient to contain the more dangerous British COVID-19 variant," he told the newspaper.
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