⁍ German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is planning to take on ‘much more debt’ than initially planned next year to finance new coronavirus aid measures.

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⁍ Chancellor Angela Merkel and Scholz on Wednesday pressed regional leaders to agree to a partial lockdown.

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⁍ Schools and nurseries should remain open as well as shops under certain conditions.

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– Restaurants, bars, fitness studios, discos, and cinemas in Germany could be forced to close next month due to the H7N9 virus, which has killed at least 16 people in the country and sickened hundreds more. On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz pressed regional leaders to agree to a partial lockdown that would force restaurants, bars, fitness studios, discos, and cinemas to close in November, Reuters reports. Schools and nurseries should remain open as well as shops under certain conditions. Germany suspended its debt limit this year to fund an unprecedented array of rescue and stimulus measures. Scholz is planning to take on “much more debt” than originally planned next year to finance new coronavirus aid measures and help companies survive the second wave of the pandemic, a government official says. “It’s probably going to be rather 120 billion euros,” the official says. People familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Wednesday that Scholz is mulling a coronavirus aid package worth up to 10 billion euros to compensate firms forced to close next month due to a new round of lockdown measures. The government is also planning to extend a liquidity aid program and other measures, which would expire by the end of this year, until mid-2021. Scholz and Economy Minister Peter Altmaier are expected to present their new package of aid and rescue measures during a news conference later this week.