Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after holding talks with the governors of the country's 16 states that the easing of restrictions in the country was justified.

Although Scholz admitted that the record-breaking 300,000 infections in one day was not good news, most measures will be eased since intensive care units were not overwhelmed.

As of Sunday, March 20, mask mandates will be dropped in indoor places like schools and supermarkets but will remain compulsory in medical clinics and care homes.

The 16 states will still, however, retain the power to impose restrictions if they identify hotspots where infections and hospitalizations peak.

“This is not a step-by-step process. It’s simply a leap into the unknown,” Bavaria Premier Markus Soeder said Thursday in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio. “The health minister warns every day about new and dangerous waves and at the same time pursues the biggest easing we have ever had,” he added. “That doesn’t fit together.”

Germany began easing COVID measures last month. Some states, including the capital Berlin, said they will keep the restrictions in place until the end of the month.