After nine hours of talks on Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of the country's 16 states agreed to measures aimed at balancing concern over the impact of more contagious coronavirus variants with growing clamor for a return to a more normal life.

The first moves have already been made, with many elementary students returning to school last week and hairdressers opening on Monday after a two-and-a-half-month break.

Current lockdown rules were set to run through Sunday.

On Wednesday, Merkel and the state governors set out a phased plan allowing for some further relaxation of restrictions.

"These should be steps toward opening but at the same time steps that do not set us back," Merkel told reporters in Berlin.

"There are a great many examples in Europe of a dramatic third wave."

She pledged "spring 2021 will be different from spring a year ago".

Regions where infection rates are relatively low, though not as low as previously envisioned, will be able to open nonessential stores, museums and other facilities on a limited basis.

Most stores have been closed nationwide since December 16.

Restaurants, bars, sports and leisure facilities have been closed since November 2 and hotels are allowed only to accommodate business travelers.

When they last conferred on February 10, Merkel and the governors set a target of 35 weekly new cases per 100,000 inhabitants before letting small stores, museums and other businesses reopen.

The aim is to enable reliable contact-tracing.

But reaching that target soon appeared unrealistic as cases of the more contagious British variant increased, with overall infections creeping slightly higher.

The cases-per-week number, which peaked at nearly 200 per 100,000 inhabitants just before Christmas, has been stalled above 60 in recent days.

Wednesday's decisions opened the possibility of reopening more businesses at various stages above the 35 target.

However they included an "emergency brake" that would see restrictions now in place reimposed if weekly infection levels exceed 100 per 100,000 residents on three consecutive days.

Germany's national disease control centre said on Wednesday an analysis of nearly 25,000 samples found the British variant accounted for about 46 per cent of cases last week - up from 22 per cent two weeks earlier.

As of Tuesday, 5.3 per cent of the population had been given a first vaccine dose and 2.7 per cent had received two doses.

Some 9019 new coronavirus cases were reported on Wednesday, bringing the total so far to 2.46 million.

There were another 418 deaths recorded, raising Germany's toll to 70,881.

Australian Associated Press