Germans stare at Easter lockdown
Country is trying to defuse a ‘third wave’ of coronavirus infections fuelled by fast-spreading strains
BERLIN/LONDON: Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional leaders agreed to put Germany into hard lockdown over Easter to try to defuse a “third wave” of Covid-19 infections fuelled by faster-spreading mutations of the coronavirus.
After more than 11 hours of tense talks that ended early on Tuesday, Merkel and state leaders extended existing lockdown measures for four more weeks and postponed plans to reopen Europe’s largest economy. But they failed to reach an agreement on tougher measures such as curfews in hard-hit areas and establish rules for domestic travel.
“We are now in a very, very serious situation,” Merkel said at a news conference that started after 2.30am in Berlin. “The case numbers are rising exponentially and intensive care beds are filling up again,” she said, adding that the number of infections must come down to allow the country’s vaccination campaign to start taking effect.
In the radical Easter shutdown - one of the toughest in Germany since the start of the pandemic - all stores will be shuttered from April 1 for five days, except for food stores which will open on April 3,
Citizens will be encouraged to remain at home, private gatherings limited to one other household and a maximum of five people, and public meetings banned.
Travellers from England will face £5,000 ($6,900) fines in new legislation designed to deter non-essential trips and barricade the nation against imported Covid-19 infections.
The news was a disappointment to millions of people hoping for a summer holiday, sending travel shares crashing. As a gradual easing of lockdown is set to begin this weekend, the government warned that people will have to sacrifice long-desired holidays abroad.
A top UN health expert said the weekly global count of Covid-19 deaths is rising again, calling it a “worrying sign” after about six weeks of declines. Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on Covid-19 at the WHO, says cases are rising in four of the WHO’s five regions worldwide. Cases in Europe have increased by 12% in the last week, Van Kerkhove said.
Southeast Asia tallied a 49% jump over the last week, and the Western Pacific region tallied a 29% rise. Meantime, the Americas and Africa registered declines.