Bavaria has become the first state to order a partial lockdown in Germany, and a typical morning in Munich now starts with an emergency service car patrolling the streets warning citizens to stay home during the coronavirus outbreak.
The authorities have ordered citizens to stay indoors apart from necessary trips, after seeing a sharp increase in coronavirus cases in recent days. According to locals, the authorities also played the anthem in the morning.
Bavaria's state premier Markus Soder has stated that beginning on 21 March that "there will be fundamental restrictions on going out" for a provisional period of two weeks.
"We are not locking Bavarians in but we are winding down public life almost completely", Soder said at a press conference, adding that "restaurants in the region would be closed and citizens would no longer be allowed to meet in groups outside".
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Germany has risen to 21,828 within the past 24 hours, according to Johns Hopkins University's website.
According to the NTV broadcaster, the worst-hit German state is North Rhine-Westphalia, with 6,257 confirmed cases. The number of infected people in Baden-Württemberg has reached 3,665, and Lower Saxony 1,262. The death toll has reportedly reached 75, while 209 people have recovered.
The World Health Organisation declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on 11 March. About 260,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 11,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.
