Merkel drops Easter shutdown plan, apologizes to Germans

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday abandoned plans for a five-day shutdown that would have gone through Easter, calling it a mistake and apologizing to the German people.

Merkel had unveiled a plan Tuesday that would have made Thursday a “rest day,” shutting down shops and only allowing supermarkets to open on Easter Sunday, The Associated Press reports. This would have effectively created a five-day shutdown as Friday and Monday are already national holidays.

Merkel made the announcement to reverse her decision during a videoconference with Germany’s 16 state governors who are in charge of lifting and imposing restrictions.

“The idea of an Easter shutdown was drawn up with the best intentions, because we must urgently manage to slow and reverse the third wave of the pandemic,” Merkel said, according to the AP.

“However, the idea … was a mistake — there were good reasons for it but it could not be implemented well enough in this short time,” she said. “This mistake is my mistake alone, because in the end I bear ultimate responsibility for everything. A mistake must be called a mistake, and above all it must be corrected — and if possible, that has to happen in time.”

Merkel acknowledged that her earlier decision had caused “more uncertainty,” saying, “I regret that deeply and I apologize to all citizens.”

However, Merkel noted that without the Easter shutdown, the plan she and the governors had come up with still offered a “framework” to help combat the new wave of coronavirus infections.

COVID-19 infections in Germany have risen recently, with the AP now reporting 108 weekly cases for every 100,000 residents. The outlet notes that around 9.5 percent of Germany’s population have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine. The United Kingdom, in contrast, has reportedly immunized over 50 percent of its population.

According to data from the World Health Organization, Germany has confirmed around 2.7 million coronavirus cases and has had more than 75,000 deaths related to the disease.