Live: Coronavirus daily news updates, March 24: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday dropped plans for a five-day shutdown over Easter, which had prompted confusion and criticism. She called the idea a mistake and apologized to Germans.

Merkel announced the decision after a hastily arranged videoconference with Germany’s 16 state governors, who are responsible for imposing and lifting restrictions. The same group, faced with rising coronavirus infections, had come up early Tuesday with the unexpected plan for tighter restrictions over Easter.

The plan, which was to begin next Thursday, raised legal issues as well as questions about whether it could be implemented well in the short time.

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It was before 9 a.m. Monday on the edge of Lubbock, Texas, when a man, armed with a loaded pistol, allegedly barreled down the highway in hot pursuit of Texas National Guard members.

The soldiers were transporting coronavirus vaccine to a town 80 miles away, authorities said. But Larry Harris, a 66-year-old Arizona man, later told police he thought the three unmarked white vans were involved in the kidnapping of a woman and child.

Harris tried to run the vans off the road, then swerved into oncoming traffic to stop them before ordering 11 soldiers out at gunpoint, culminating in a bizarre moment that left them shaken on the side of a small-town highway road, said Idalou Police Chief Eric C. Williams.

Harris was arrested soon after police arrived and charged with several offenses, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and an obscure law that makes it a crime to interfere with Texas military forces, Williams said. The soldiers were not harmed in the incident.

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Belgium is reintroducing strict lockdown measures in response to a worrying surge of new COVID-19 infections, with the government saying Wednesday that schools would close and residents would have limited access to non-essential businesses.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the virus variant first identified in Britain is taking a heavy toll on the health of the country’s people: confirmed cases increased 40% over the last week, and hospital admissions rose 28% following a long stable period.

“The largest number of infections is in the 10 to 19 age group,” De Croo said.

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With the memory of the pandemic’s toll in nursing homes still raw, the COVID-19 relief law is offering states a generous funding boost for home- and community-based care as an alternative to institutionalizing disabled people.

Advocates hope the estimated $12.7 billion will accelerate what has been a steady shift to supporting elderly and disabled people and their overwhelmed families in everyday settings. But the money for state Medicaid programs, long in coming, will only be available over four calendar quarters this year and next. That’s raising concerns it will have just fleeting impact, and prompting calls for permanent legislation.

The coronavirus pandemic starkly exposed the vulnerability of nursing home residents. Only about 1% of the U.S. population lives in long-term care facilities, but they accounted for about one-third of COVID-19 deaths as of early March, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

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France’s high-profile culture minister has been hospitalized for COVID-19, the latest senior official to become ill as the nation faces a third surge of coronavirus infections, this one propelled by a highly contagious variant first found in Britain.

Roselyne Bachelot, 74, announced last weekend that she tested positive and her hospitalization was made public Wednesday. The virus has been gaining steam in France, with ICUs in the Paris region, the north and southeast France bursting at the seams.

In the Paris region the rate of infection for 20- to 50-year-olds is above 700 for 100,000 inhabitants, and higher yet in other regions, according to Paris area health system chief Aurelien Rousseau. Doctors are reporting an increasing number of young people without other health issues entering ICUs, he tweeted.

Read the story here.

Spend an afternoon with Seattle's COVID-19 "vaccine chasers": People who don't yet qualify for vaccination — or do but can't get an appointment — are flocking to vaccine hubs each day in the hope of scoring a leftover dose. There are rules about how this works, and sometimes your eligibility comes down to the smallest detail. Here's our updated guide to getting your vaccine.

Yes, vaccinated people can still get COVID-19, one doctor learned firsthand with a "huge shock" when he fell ill. Breakthrough infections are likely very rare, new research indicates, but they're a sharp reminder that vaccines don't make everyone invincible.

Nearly half of U.S. public schools are open for full-time, face-to-face classes. But there's a strikingly wide racial gap in which children are attending class in person, according to new data released today.

Say "vaccine!" Bellevue ninth-grader Andy Mereckis wanted to do something positive, so he picked up his phone and started capturing history. The result, he hopes, will "show that there’s a light at the end of this dark time."

More COVID-19 relief money will flood into King County after its council yesterday approved a $94.3 million round of funding. Here's where the money will go.

Washington state was not amused when one city's council members went maskless. They've been slapped with a fine and stern words.

Indiana is lifting its mask mandate and business restrictions. "I don't think we're ready for that," health officials there are fretting.

If you're working from home, are you itching to return to the office, or hoping you can keep wearing pajama pants and commuting downstairs forever? As more employers reopen offices, we'd like to hear from you.