Berlin, Apr 2 (IANS): German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on the citizens to "consistently abide by all rules" regarding health measures and contact restrictions during the Easter weekend.

In a video message on Thursday, Merkel said that one of the main goals would be to protect the health of as many people as possible and to do everything possible to ensure that the country's healthcare system could withstand the "enormous challenge", reports Xinhua news agency

Doctors and nurses in Germany could not win the fight against the third wave of the pandemic on their own.

"With our behaviour, we can again slow down, stop and then reverse the strong growth in the number of infections," Merkel said.

For the next few days, that would mean above all that it should be a quiet Easter, one in a small circle, "with very reduced contacts", Merkel said, even if everyone already had "months of great restrictions" behind them.

At the same time, Merkel encouraged Germans in this "really difficult phase of the pandemic". saying that the situation was different now because of the testing capacities and the country's vaccination campaign.

Germany is currently hit by a third wave of the pandemic as infections continued to increase, with 24,300 new cases registered on Thursday, around 1,600 more than one week ago, according to the Robert Koch Institute.

Germany's overall coronavirus caseload and death toll currently stand at 2,853,331 and 76,681, respectively.