German government hesitant on lockdown as COVID cases rise

BERLIN >> Germany’s government refused to back calls Friday for a swift and sharp lockdown to curb the country’s worsening coronavirus situation, which saw daily confirmed cases hit a new peak and is putting hospitals under severe strain.

Health Minister Jens Spahn said contacts between people need to be sharply reduced, warning that “the situation is dramatically serious, more serious than it’s been at any point in the pandemic.”

But he declined to say whether he would back blanket restrictions of the kind seen during previous stages of the pandemic, when schools, nonessential stores and other areas of public life were shuttered. Austria, faced with a similar surge in cases, this week ordered a 10-day lockdown for everybody, renewable for a further 10 days.

A spokesman for outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel likewise refused to be drawn on whether she favored triggering the so-called emergency brake measures last used in April.

Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said there were “political realities that need to be acknowledged,” such as the new majority in parliament since Germany’s election on Sept. 26 that Merkel’s party narrowly lost. Her government’s junior partner, the center-left Social Democrats, have negotiated to form a new government with two other parties.

The new government is expected to take over in early December, but the transition period — with Merkel as caretaker — has been blamed for paralyzing Germany’s response to the pandemic.

The country’s disease control agency said 76,414 more cases were reported in the past 24 hours, a new record. The Robert Koch Institute said Germany also had 357 new deaths from COVID-19, taking the total since the start of the outbreak to 100,476.

Responding to a newly discovered variant that’s been spreading in South Africa, Spahn said airlines coming from there would only be able to transport German citizens. Travelers will need to go into quarantine for 14 days whether they are vaccinated or not, he said.

“The last thing we need is to bring in a new variant that will cause even more problems,” Spahn said.