The lockdown and social distancing pushed the number of new cases down to as low as 159 in mid-July but numbers have been rising since, fuelled by local outbreaks, including one centered on a slaughterhouse that required restrictions to be placed on the entire town of Guetersloh.
Ominously, a poll for Der Spiegel magazine showed four-fifths of Germans expect the further lockdowns to be imposed to control the coronavirus pandemic, with half of them expecting future measures to be more severe.
Spahn is due to give a news conference on the latest developments in infection numbers later on Thursday.
(Writer: Thomas Escritt | Editor: Michelle Martin)
Dapatkan update berita pilihan dan breaking news setiap hari dari Kompas.com. Mari bergabung di Grup Telegram "Kompas.com News Update", caranya klik link https://t.me/kompascomupdate, kemudian join. Anda harus install aplikasi Telegram terlebih dulu di ponsel.