Germany is extending its lockdown until April 18 and calling on citizens to stay at home for five days over the Easter holidays to try to break the third wave of COVID-19, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said early on Tuesday.

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.