BERLIN (REUTERS) - Germany is extending its lockdown until April 18and calling on citizens to stay at home for five days over the Easter holidays to try to break a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said early on Tuesday (March 23).

In talks that ran deep into the night, Merkel pushed the leaders of Germany's 16 states to take a tougher stance to fight the pandemic, reversing plans for a gradual re-opening of the economy agreed earlier this month after a sharp rise in the infection rate.