Germany to extend Covid-19-related restrictions until Feb 14: Merkel

Germany will extend and strengthen the coronavirus-related restrictive measures until February 14, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

"Today we held talks again and agreed to introduce new measures... We are doing this as a precautionary measure for the sake of citizens' health, as well as for the sake of the economy and labor market," Merkel said.

"We agreed that all measures that were scheduled until January 31 should be extended until February 14," she said.

Merkel said the number of new coronavirus infections in Germany was gradually reducing, and this was encouraging.

She said the scale of the presence of the 'UK' coronavirus strain in Germany was unclear yet, but there was the threat of a rapid spread of the disease.

Overall, since the start of the pandemic, Germany has recorded more than 2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. Over 47,000 people have died.