The measures include a night-time curfew – the most controversial of the restrictions – as well as the shutting of most shops, and a limit on gatherings to one household and one other person, although children under age 14 do not count.

The bill already passed in the Bundestag, parliament’s lower house, on Wednesday. Discussions will begin in the Bundesrat at 11 am (0900 GMT).

The upper house, representing Germany’s 16 states, could object to parts of the legislation and force renegotiations. However, several states had previously announced that they would not object.

Parliamentarians from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s broad coalition backed the measure during heated debate in the Bundestag on Wednesday.

Deputy Chancellor Olaf Scholz said clarity and consistency were necessary as he stressed the need for measures at the federal level, and not merely by individual states.

Health Minister Jens Spahn described the situation as “extremely serious.”

Once approved by both houses, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has to sign the legislation into law, which could also happen on Thursday. Publication in the Federal Law Gazette could possibly take place the same day.

The emergency brake is designed to kick in when the infection rate in a given district, as measured by the total infections over the past week per 100,000 people, reaches over 100 for three consecutive days.