Germany is approaching the peak of the coronavirus pandemic and will next week start easing some restrictions with a view to lifting more measures in spring, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said.

“The scientific prognoses show us that the peak of the wave is in sight,” Scholz said in a speech in the Bundesrat upper house. “This allows us at the meeting between the federal government and states next week to take the first reopening steps and consider more steps for spring.”