In a speech made to the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of Parliament, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that, "We cannot return to life before the pandemic."
Germany has fared relatively well in its battle against the coronavirus: Although the country has confirmed 150,729 cases as of today, only 5,315 people have died so far.
Nonetheless, Merkel insisted that the country would not "gamble away" gains made by lockdown measures.
"No one likes to hear this, but we are living at the beginning of the pandemic," she said, adding that the country was still "on thin ice," and that "we will likely only end the pandemic with a vaccine."