German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans on Thursday to have a little more patience after agreeing with regional leaders to extend a coronavirus lockdown until March 7 and said restrictions would not be kept for a day longer than necessary. A gradual fall in new daily infections has raised pressure for an easing of tight restrictions in place since mid-December and Merkel agreed with state premiers on Wednesday that some schools and hairdressers could open sooner than March 7. Seeking to reassure Germans that the lockdown was helping, Merkel said she was aware this was the most serious curtailment of freedoms in post-war Germany.