Germany may be battling a third wave of the pandemic but life feels almost normal in the city of Tuebingen, where anyone with a negative Covid test can enjoy a day of shopping, culture or outdoor dining.

Germany said Tuesday it will impose a strict lockdown for five days over Easter as Covid-19 infections spiral "exponentially", while a row over exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine festers in Europe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday unveiled plans to gradually ease coronavirus curbs in Europe's top economy, while President Joe Biden slammed "Neanderthal" decisions to drop mask-wearing mandates in some US states.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to allow more socialising between households from next week as part of plans to gradually loosen virus curbs in the Covid-weary nation, a draft text showed Tuesday.

Germany on Friday recorded more than 50,000 deaths from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, as public health officials expressed cautious optimism about a slowing infection rate.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed relief that Joe Biden was replacing Donald Trump as US president on Wednesday, calling it a "good day for democracy".

Russia should "immediately" release Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Monday after a wave of Western condemnation of his detention at a Moscow airport. 

Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party will elect a new leader on Saturday, in a key vote kicking off the race for Germany's top job as a deadly pandemic roils Europe's biggest economy.

Germany's total coronavirus cases topped two million on Friday, as Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed for a "significant" tightening of restrictions to slow the infection rate.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and state leaders are expected Tuesday to extend a shutdown in Europe's top economy as coronavirus deaths continue to mount despite tough restrictions in the run-up to the holidays.