February 10, 2021: Chancellor Angela Merkel is about to announce that Germany will extend its lockdown until March 14 concerning new coronavirus variants.

On Wednesday, A draft document emerged early, which outlined plans between Merkel and state officials about the lockdown and urged that citizens maintain social-distancing rules but gradually lift some restrictions in the upcoming weeks.

The reopening of hotels and shops could begin next month in areas where the infection rate is low. Restrictions were due to end on February 14.

There are concerns in Germany regarding the virus’s new variants, particularly the mutation first discovered in the U.K. last fall. Yet Germany’s daily number of new infections has been falling in between a continued lockdown of public life across the country.

The public health body reported 8,072 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday and 813 deaths, which brought the total number of infections to around 2.3 million, and the death toll to 62,969.

A German lawmaker reportedly described the situation as “highly fragile” earlier on Wednesday.

Speaking to German media outlet Spiegel Online, Winfried Kretschmann, premier of the southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, said that there was concern in Germany that the infection rate could soar, as seen in other countries where variants have helped infections to surge.

Kretschmann said, “We can see in other countries, such as Portugal, how quickly the tide can turn,” Reuters reported.

Germany has recently sent medics to help in Portuguese hospitals that have been overwhelmed by an influx of patients following a rise in COVID-19 infections.