BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the citizens to "consistently abide by all rules" regarding health measures and contact restrictions during the Easter weekend. She has urged citizens to continue to practice social distancing during Easter to prevent the further spread of coronavirus.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Merkel expressed “caution optimism” about the slowing rate of new COVID-19 infections in Germany, but ruled out discussing a lockdown exit strategy before achieving a sustained decline in new infections.

 Chancellor  said, "With our behavior, we can again slow down, stop and then reverse the strong growth in the number of infections."  For the next few days, that would mean above all that it should be a quiet Easter, one in a small circle, "with very reduced contacts", Merkel said, even if everyone already had "months of great restrictions" behind them.

At the same time, Merkel encouraged Germans in this "really difficult phase of the pandemic", saying that the situation was different now because of the testing capacities and the country's vaccination campaign.

In a video message on Thursday, Merkel said that one of the main goals would be to protect the health of as many people as possible and to do everything possible to ensure that the country's healthcare system could withstand the "enormous challenge", reports Xinhua news agency Doctors and nurses in Germany could not win the fight against the third wave of the pandemic on their own.

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