What happened? Chancellor Angela Merkel gives the bad news to German citizens

Germany is in the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told lawmakers of her Conservative party, reports the Reuters news agency.

"We are now in the third wave," Merkel said, adding that any easing of isolation measures taken late last year should be done carefully and gradually.

The closure of all non-core businesses and border controls with Austria and the Czech Republic - where there have been outbreaks of a more contagious version of the coronavirus - have reportedly helped Germany reduce its daily infection rate.

But the slow vaccination campaign and the risk of outbreaks of new variants may make it more difficult to ease restrictive measures.

"We can not afford to go up and down," Merkel said, suggesting she would like to return to normal life carefully to avoid reinstating the blockade.

She added that increasing testing capacity could make the return to normalcy more sustainable.

Since the pandemic began last spring, Germany has registered over 2.3 million coronavirus-infected and over 68,000 victims.