Locked down set to begin in the coming days, a soft lock down imposed in early November failed to cut infection rates.

Now the country faces hard choices as it goes into the holiday season.

Let's go live to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's press conference.

She's just had a meeting with German state leaders and is expected to announce, and even tougher locked down.

A surge in the number of coronavirus deaths has prompted her and the government to take action.

Let's listen in for things is because the measures that we put into place on the second of November have not been sufficient for a while.

We were able to stop the exponential growth on had a plateau movement.

But now we're seeing a new rise in infections and exponential growth once again.

And what that means is that many people are dying.

You have been following the statistics, I'm sure on.

Do we also know that we are close to exceeding the response capacity of our public health systems?

On our aim was always to prevent this E and this is why we must act and we must act fast and the results are the decisions that we made today.

Theo Aim remains being able to trace contacts once again, so that means we need an incidents rate of 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in a seven day period and below now.

All of this will impact on our holiday season, as we're well aware.

But we must act and we will act.

Hmm.

Way have decided all together that the ordinances off the federal states will be in place until the 10th of January for now, But the aim remains to bring the incidence rate down.

So what happens from early January cannot be predicted now.

It will depend on the results that we achieve with this.

So we remain with our personal contacts such that we can meet friends and family members, but a maximum of five people from two households at once.

And this is only from the 24th until the 26th of December.

There will be an exception, but not on New Year's on, not on New Year's Eve.

Onto this means that above and beyond your own household, you can invite four other people in the holiday period from your closest friends and families, your partners or direct relations.

So your parents and your Children on siblings.

But we would like to appeal to all citizens.

If you're inviting other households over for Christmas or other holidays, please reduce your contacts for seven days.

Before you do that, Soto have a protection week on then from New Year's afternoons, there will be no changes, but from Wednesday the 16th of December, we will be closing retail.

Apart from essential goods, retail on non food products in food, primarily food stores, will not be expanded.

And we're also putting a ban on fireworks ahead off New Year's Eve and there'll be in an ordinance in place to make this law.

There will also be a ban on body care services, Hairdresser's beauty, someone's etcetera.

Schools will also be limited on daycare centers as well, so that will mean that Children are to be looked after at home wherever possible on from the 16th of December.

So that's from Wednesday.

Schools will be closed.

Certainly the school Children no longer have to go to school.

There will be emergency care mhm in place for some Children, and distance learning will also be offered through the senior years of high school might be dealt with differently on daycare will be run just the Samos schools.

In this regard, we are appealing to employers to offer home office options wherever possible from the 16th of December until the 10th of January.

Aunt in terms of take away and delivery food from restaurants, this will continue to be possible, but you are no longer allowed to eat your take away near or at the restaurant.

You will know that in recent days and weeks we have again and again had a situation in which there have been groups of people meeting just outside off cafes and restaurants, and they have been able thio eat their food just outside it.

Religious services will only be possible under strict constraints, and we will be speaking with the church's on other religious institutions.

We will be focusing as well on senior citizens homes on homes for the very elderly.

There will be mobile care services as well, and they will be getting rapid tests as well.

We would ask you to refrain from traveling abroad if not absolutely necessary, and the quarantine regulations will remain in place.

There will be economic support on Duthie.

Minister will say more about that in a moment and we've put together a package of measures Azaz well, which ensures that people are compensated for the difficulties they'll be experiencing in their livelihood.

We are calling on everyone to reduce their contacts because wherever they can and I want to thank everyone in Germany who has adhered to these rules and regulations which you have done to a large extent on Director urgently appealed to you in the next days and weeks to avoid contacts that aren't absolutely necessary and by doing so to contributing, to not exceeding the response capacity off our public health systems and those who work in hospitals, the physicians, the care geriatric care is the nurses.

I want to thank all of you because for you, this is going to be a very difficult holiday season on.

We are putting these efforts in place to support you as well as helping everyone stay well, thank you very much.

Well, in recent days and weeks, there has beena process of reaching an agreement between the Federal States and the national government on as the Chancellor has just said thes are tough measures for nearly everyone.

They're tough for families.

They're tough for school Children.

They're tough for retail on for many companies, for the cultural sector, who still have no idea of how things can proceed from here.

This is a comprehensive decision that we have agreed on for myself.

I would just like to say a bit about my take on the situation on to look back over the last few months because in recent days I've read again and again.

Why now?

Why not?

Ah, harder locked down.

Why can't politicians agree on this?

That or the other thing.

If you look at what's been happening since February and in March in all of the federal states of Germany, we have to say that we have responded quickly.

All of the state premiers have we have restricted things.

We have closed things from one day to the next.

Things that everyone took for granted was suddenly not possible anymore.

And we Okay, well, Angela Merkel has been leading with E 16 state leaders.

That meeting has ended.

We go live now to our political correspondent Hance Brunt, who is standing by Hanse.

Ah, a lot to digest.

There What did you make of it?

Well, there was at the moment, as far as I can see.

No surprise in what Angela Merkel and her colleagues have now announced.

So are busy announcing at the moment in the chancery that you see behind me the restrictions that had Bean agreed on in a discussion paper where it seems passed without too much discussion.

That's unusual for this kind of meeting in the past, These meetings since sometime around October have been very acrimonious and have taken many, many hours for agreement to be reached.

So today they have decided that there will be a lock down from the 16th off December.

In other words, this coming Wednesday that retail shops will then be closed except the shops that sell essential goods, that other institutions, such as schools, will be sent into home schooling into distance, learning that companies are encouraged to give their employees off from that time across, the Christmas period or toe also allow them to work at home.

Also closed will be hair dressers and other shops or other services that involve very direct personal contact, and they have also imposed a ban on the consumption of alcohol in public spaces and the use of fireworks around New Year.

So that's a whole gamut to try and restrict the number of people that gather in public.

In private, there will be a restriction on five people from two households that are allowed to meet around Christmas time.

That is going to be loosened slightly.

It will be five people, but it does not need to be only two households.

Yeah, that's the wider holiday season will change significantly this year from the 16th.

Those changes come in.

Another point for discussion is how that will affect business.

Merkel and state leaders also discussed, I believe, compensation.

Yes, indeed.

Compensation was a central part of this agreement that has now been reached between the central government and the 16 regional states, and one is talking about expense off somewhere around 10 or €12 billion every month in order to compensate all the businesses on all the, uh um, all the people who work force work for themselves, who work independently, who also can be compensated.

This amount of money has already been spent in the last couple of months, and there has been some dispute between central government and the regions as to who is going to carry what part of that load.

So far, it's been central government that has paid most of the money, and there has been some dissatisfaction amongst politicians here in Berlin that the regions are not taking enough share for themselves.

At the moment.

It continues to be the case that it is central government that will pay most of these 12 10 to €12 billion every month.

How exactly is going to be allocated?

Is this little bit open yet?

Because until now, the compensation that has been paid in the last couple of months has, in some cases being too generous.

Some restaurants, for instance, have bean doing better under lock down.

Then there would have, if there had been running the details.

Many details to follow hunts for your input, Thank you very much.