Merkel warns of a third wave of the virus as Germany seeks to end the lock

This did not prevent state-level officials from making their proposals. Daniel Guenther, prime minister of the CDU of the northernmost German state of Schleswig-Holstein, called for a four-step program to reopen shops and restaurants in regions with an incidence rate of less than 50, while Social Democrat Malu Dreyer, who leads the Rhineland-Palatinate and faces elections 14. March, has a separate plan based on a number of new infections, tests and vaccinations.