Germany to go on month-long partial lockdown, as Angela Merkel warns of ‘very serious situation’
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Germany will go on a partial lockdown starting Nov. 2, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.
The so-called “lockdown light” — a modified version of the strict virus-fighting measures implemented by the country earlier in the spring — is set to last for a month.
“We are in a very serious situation,” Merkel said in a press conference, according to German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
“We must act, and now, to avoid an acute national health emergency,” she warned.
According to the new measures, restaurants and bars will only operate for takeouts; entertainment facilities, such as theater and cinemas, as well as public recreation centers, such as swimming pools and gyms will be closed; overnight stays in hotels for tourism will be banned; and all large events will be canceled.
The government is also telling residents to avoid unnecessary travel, and limiting meetings in public to two households of up to 10 people.
Employers are being encouraged to facilitate work-from-home environments.
Just like the rest of Europe, Germany is dealing with a relentless resurgence of the deadly coronavirus.
According to Merkel, the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units has doubled in the past 10 days.
“We are now at a point where, on average nationally, we no longer know where 75% of infections come from,” she said.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, was widely praised for the way it handled the crisis when the pandemic first hit, but it has struggled with a surge in new infections.
According to Germany’s infections diseases agency, the Robert Koch Institute, cases rose by 14,964 on Wednesday for a total of 464,239 cases, including 10,183 deaths.
“Our health system can still cope with this challenge today, but at this speed of infections it will reach the limits of its capacity within weeks,” she said.
The partial lockdown aims at flattening the curve of infections.
“Our hope is that if we manage to do this for four weeks, that we then have a chance to halt this dramatic development, that we have a chance to regain a bit of security,” the mayor of Berlin, Michael Mueller, said during the press conference.
Merkel and state government leaders are set to meet again in two weeks to assess results of the lockdown, according to Reuters.
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