German Chancellor Angela Merkel takes off her face mask while holding a press conference on the real situation amid the novel coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic, after a meeting with her so-called Corona cabinet on 2 November 2020 in Berlin .
Kay Nietfeld | AFP | Getty Images
Germany will extend its nationwide exclusion until the end of the month and impose new stricter restrictions in an effort to control rising coronavirus infections, sources said on Tuesday.
The new rules, currently being discussed by Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states, will for the first time prohibit non-essential travel for residents of hard-hit areas across Germany.
In cities and districts where the number of new cases of coronavirus is more than 200 per 100,000 inhabitants over seven days, the journey will be limited to a radius of 15 kilometers (9.3 miles), the sources said.
One of the sources also said that members of one household may only meet one other person in public. This can be compared to the current rule under which public gatherings are limited to five people from two households.
Like many other European countries, Germany is struggling to curb a second wave of the virus. Britain on Tuesday launched its third Covid-19 exclusion with civilians on orders to stay home.
Concern is growing that hospitals in Germany are struggling to cope.
“The situation with the coronavirus is very serious. We must remain difficult and not stop too soon,” Markus Soeder, premier of the southern state of Bavaria, tweeted before the talks.
Merkel’s prime ministers and the shops were largely agreed to close shops and restaurants until the end of January, according to sources involved in the talks. Schools must also remain closed, and lessons are held online until at least the end of the month.
Merkel is expected to announce the new measures in a news conference later Tuesday.
Germany imposed a partial exclusion in November, but had to close schools, shops and restaurants in mid-December, after the initial steps could not make the desired impact.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Germany rose by 11,897 million to 1,787 million in the last day, the Robert Koch Institute of Infectious Diseases said on Tuesday. The death toll rose by 944 to 35,518.
Germany is launching a vaccine against Covid-19, but the media and some officials have criticized the government for a slow start and for ordering too few doses. By Monday, about 266,000 people had been shot.