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HEALTH-VIRUS-GERMANY-TOLL
Merkel eyes stricter curbs as German virus cases top 2 million
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Jan 15, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Chancellor Angela Merkel will host fresh crisis talks next week on tougher measures to slow Germany’s infection rate, her spokesman said Friday, as the country crossed two million coronavirus cases.
Merkel will discuss restrictions with leaders of Germany’s 16 states on Tuesday, bringing forward a meeting initially scheduled for January 25.
“The number of new infections remains far too high,” spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin, stressing the need for Germans to further reduce their social contacts.
He also said the government was taking “very seriously” concerns over a new virus strain that has emerged in Britain and is considered more contagious.
“All this is reason enough to further strengthen our efforts,” he added.
The comments came shortly after Germany, the European Union’s most populous country, added another 22,368 new cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 2,000,958.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) health agency also reported another 1,113 Covid-19 fatalities, taking the overall death toll up to 44,994. More than 1.6 million have recovered.
At a meeting of senior members of her centre-right CDU party on Thursday, Merkel said the virus could only be stopped with “significant additional measures”, participants told AFP.
– ‘Work from home’ –
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier meanwhile issued a joint appeal with union and employer federation representatives, urging firms to have staff work from home “whenever possible”.
More could be done to keep non-essential workers out of the office and off public transport, they said.
“All those who can work from home should do so now, at the latest,” Steinmeier said.
Germany fared better than many of its neighbours in the early days of the pandemic, but has been hit hard by a second wave despite being in some form of shutdown since early November.
It is currently the 10th most affected country in the world, according to an AFP tally, but has still recorded fewer infections to date than EU peers with smaller populations such as France, Italy or Spain.
Britain has recorded more than three million cases and over 80,000 deaths.
Among the tougher options on the table for Tuesday’s talks are border checks and requirements to wear high-quality FFP2 masks in some places, Der Spiegel weekly reported.
Seibert however denied media reports that the government was considering stopping public transport services.
Bars, gyms, cultural and leisure centres were closed in early November, followed by non-essential shops and schools in December.
Authorities have also turned the screw on social gatherings, limiting contacts to just one other person from outside the household.
– ‘Too many exceptions’ –
Germany’s RKI had already warned on Thursday that stronger measures were needed to bring down coronavirus infections, saying many people were still socialising too much.
“There are still too many exceptions,” RKI head Lothar Wieler told a Berlin news conference.
Mobility has been significantly higher during the current shutdown than in the first one last spring, according to the health agency.
Germany, with 83 million people, began vaccinating against Covid-19 in late December.
Just over one percent of the population have received their first jab so far.
– Regional poll delayed –
The worsening situation led parties to agree on Thursday to postpone a regional election in eastern Thuringia state, moving it from April 25 to September 26.
Thuringia is a current hotspot in the pandemic, recording 287 new cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days, compared with the national average of 146, according to RKI data on Friday.
The vote will now coincide with Germany’s general election, the first in over 15 years that won’t feature Merkel, who is bowing out of politics.
BSS/AFP/BZC/2100HRs