BERLIN (AFP, BLOOMBERG) - Germany on Wednesday (March 24) backtracked on its plan to impose a strict Easter weekend shutdown after public outcry.

The government instead asked people to stay home over the holiday and Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a mea culpa after reversing the measures.

The plan for the Easter lockdown - closing most shops from April 1 to 5 - spurred widespread criticism, caught officials off guard and created confusion over the implementation.

"This mistake is mine alone," Dr Merkel said in a rare apology. "The whole process has caused additional uncertainty, for which I ask all citizens to forgive me."

She dropped the proposal after a hastily-arranged video conference with the heads of Germany's 16 states around 33 hours after announcing the move. She defended what would have been one of Germany's toughest steps since the start of the pandemic but said there wasn't enough time to implement it properly.

The withdrawal means Germany remains under restrictions that were gradually loosened before a third wave of infections gripped Europe's largest economy. Dr Merkel and state leaders extended the measures until April 18 earlier this week.

Germany has struggled to lay out a clear plan in the face of a fresh surge in Covid-19 cases and amid a sluggish vaccination campaign. That's causing public frustration over the government's handling of the crisis to grow just six months before a national election.

Dr Merkel's conservative bloc - also struggling with a scandal over lawmakers profiting off the pandemic - has tumbled in the polls. Its lead over the second-placed Greens narrowed to 8 percentage points this week, according to a polling average calculated by Bloomberg.

Some opposition lawmakers said Dr Merkel should call for a confidence vote. She said she was certain she had the support of parties in the ruling coalition, which include the Social Democrats (SPD).

Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the SPD's chancellor candidate, said the decision to shutter businesses over the Easter weekend was made jointly and all governing parties shared responsibility.

"I hope that no one will have a memory gap about this later," he said.

Armin Laschet, the head of Merkel's Christian Democratic party and a leading contender to be the bloc's chancellor candidate, said backing off the Easter lockdown was the right thing to do.

"You can't just introduce a public holiday within ten days," he told lawmakers in North Rhine-Westphalia, where he is also state premier.