Germany is extending its slotxoดาวน์โหลด lockdown until Apr 18 and calling on citizens to stay at home for five days over the Easter holidays to try to break a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said early on Tuesday (Mar 23).

In talks that ran deep into the night, Merkel pushed the leaders of Germany's 16 states to take a tougher stance to fight the pandemic, reversing plans for a gradual reopening of the economy agreed earlier this month after a sharp rise in the infection rate.

"We are now basically in a new pandemic. The British mutation has become dominant," Merkel told a news conference.

"Fundamentally, we face a new virus of the same kind but with very different characteristics. More deadly, more infectious, and infectious for longer."

Germany started cautiously easing restrictions earlier this month. But the spread of more infectious variants of the virus has pushed up cases, prompting concerns that hospitals could soon be overstretched without further curbs.

The number of cases per 100,000 people over a week stood at 107 on Monday, above the level at which intensive care units will be overwhelmed. More than 3,000 people with COVID-19 are in intensive care.

On Monday, Britain demanded the European Union allow the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines it has ordered, as tensions mounted over a possible export ban on EU-manufactured shots and Brussels pointed an accusing finger at drugmaker AstraZeneca.

After falling far behind post-Brexit Britain and the United States in rolling out vaccines, EU leaders are due to discuss a possible ban on vaccine exports to Britain at a summit on Thursday.

"We have a problem - that was known - with AstraZeneca," Merkel said, adding that she supported the European Commission. "We will decide responsibly."

For five days from Apr 1, Germans are to stay at home and reduce contacts as much as possible. But the late-night agreement did not include a closing of all stores, including essential shops like supermarkets, which Merkel had called for.