BERLIN, March 20 (CNA) -- Germans may face a national lockdown to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus if they fail to obey instructions to stay indoors this weekend, officials said on Friday (Mar 20).

"We will look at the behaviour of the population this weekend. Saturday will be a decisive day," Helge Braun, Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff, told Spiegel magazine.

Germany has introduced sweeping measures to restrict public life in the face of the coronavirus pandemic but has stopped short of imposing a full-scale lockdown such as the ones in France, Italy and Spain.

Merkel is expected to meet regional state premiers to discuss a potential lockdown on Sunday, as concern grows that the public are not heeding government calls to stay home in the crisis.

"We hope that the population understands the current measures and is ready to scale down social life. If we look at neighbouring countries, it's clear that (lockdown) would be an enormous extra burden," said Braun.

Yet he warned that more stringent measures could be introduced if citizens continued to meet in public.