Germany is extending the current lockdown through to April 18, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced early Tuesday.

“We are in a new pandemic due to the spread of coronavirus variants”, - Merkel said.

The country will enter an even stricter lockdown from April 1 to April 5 over the Easter holiday period, when shops, including grocery stores, will largely have to close.

Merkel warned that Germany needed to “break the exponential growth of the third wave”. Case numbers have reached levels that authorities say will overburden intensive care units.