IN PICTURES: Winter returns to Germany as snow falls across the country

With the growing coronavirus pandemic and strict social distancing measures, the year has not got off to a great start.

So just to top it all off, we've had flurries of snow and hailstones at the beginning of spring. Perhaps this was an early April Fool's?

Whatever the case, perhaps it helped to encourage people to stay indoors as the country battles to control the spread of coronavirus.

Here's a selection of some of the best pictures and tweets from social media. All photos are by DPA.

A cyclist wearing a yellow raincoat battles through the snow in Hamburg on Monday.

Behind snow-covered bushes lies the amusement park "Allgäu Skyline Park" in Bavaria. The park is closed due to coronavirus restrictions.

Heavy snowfall in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria.

It's not the best weather for getting on your bike, as this cyclist in Berlin shows.

These guys aren't bothered: two camels relax at a wildlife park in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Branches with buds covered with ice on Monday morning at the Palmengarten in Frankfurt.

A snowman brightening up the view in Hamburg.

A woman walking with her child in Oberhof, Thuringia.

Daffodils coated with snowfall in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria.