Germany passes two million coronavirus cases

FRANKFURT

MAIN: Germany on Friday passed two million coronavirus cases as a World Health Organisation emergency committee readied to issue advice on stemming the spread of new, more contagious strains of the disease.

The surge in Europe’s biggest economy comes as the global death toll from the pandemic approaches two million and many countries double down on virus restrictions, with vaccination drives still in their infancy.

Portugal entered a fresh lockdown Friday while Britain began requiring negative tests

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for entry, and fresh curbs on populations were announced from Brazil to Lebanon.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday pushed for a ‘significant’ tightening of curbs to slow the infection rate as the European Union’s most populous country added more than 22,000 new cases.

The chancellor said she wanted to bring forward crisis talks with regional leaders to the coming week, participants at a meeting of her centre-right CDU party told AFP.

They quoted her as saying the virus could only be stopped with “significant additional measures” and that people urgently needed to reduce social contact.

At the Meissen crematorium in the state of Saxony, coffins were stacked up to three high, or even stored in hallways, awaiting cremation.

The eastern region has been one of Germany’s worst-hit areas in recent weeks.

Manager Joerg Schaldach, 57, said anyone still denying the severity of the pandemic should come and take a look at the bodies piling up.

“This is heavy work, so why don’t the Covid-19 deniers come and do it,” he said.

“We have a disastrous situation here.”

Germany has fared better than many of its European neighbours in the pandemic, with France, Italy, Spain and Britain all recording more infections despite smaller populations.

Partly over fears of new variants, France said it would impose a daily nationwide curfew at 6pm starting Saturday and remaining in force for at least two weeks.

Most of France had already been under an 8pm curfew, with some areas, especially in the hard-hit east, already under the stricter 6pm limit. — AFP