Germany could be set for a full second national lockdown by next month as the country has recorded almost 15,000 cases.
Germany recorded 14,964 confirmed cases today, the Robert Koch Institute of infectious diseases announced, with a further 27 deaths.
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to agree a nationwide lockdown with the premiers of Germany’s states.
If the premiers agree, then the national lockdown will start on 2 November, German newspaper Bild reported.
But in a draft resolution seen by Reuters, it revealed the circuit-breaker lockdown will begin on 4 November.
On Monday at a meeting of her party, the center-right Christian Democrats, Merkel described the situation as “highly dynamic” and “dramatic.”
Germany could soon be in a “difficult position” with regards to the number of intensive care beds, she added.
Bars and restaurants will ordered to close as they did in the spring, with large events being banned. Schools and kindergartens would only be closed in areas where there are extremely high infection rates.
This fits with what Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday, that additional measures are now necessary due to the record numbers of infections.
Sholz warned, “And they should be uniformly put in place across Germany and comprehensible for everyone.”
The executive director of the WHO health emergencies programme, Dr Michael Ryan said that governments “take some serious acceleration” with “much more” stricter measures to combat the virus.
Dr Ryan told a press conference, “There’s no question that the European region is an epicentre for disease right now.
“Right now we are well behind this virus in Europe so getting ahead of it is going to take some serious acceleration in what we do and maybe much more comprehensive nature of measures that are going to be needed.”
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