Germany is going back into lockdown with all non-essential shops closed over Easter and church services moved online as Chancellor Angela Merkel warned last night: ‘We are in a new pandemic’.
New nationwide measures will come into force on April 1 – just weeks after some restrictions were eased – and end on April 5, Mrs Merkel said after a marathon online conference with German regional leaders.
She added that Germany’s current lockdown measures – including closures of restaurants, bars, cultural venues and leisure facilities – will be extended until at least April 18, having been due to expire on March 28.
Mrs Merkel pointed to an ‘exponential’ rise in Covid cases in Germany as the reason for the decision, and said it was caused by the more-infectious Kent strain of coronavirus which is now dominant in the country.
‘Essentially, we have a new virus… it is much deadlier, much more infectious and infectious for much longer,’ she said. ‘The situation is serious. Case numbers are rising exponentially and intensive care beds are filling up again.’
Europe’s biggest economy had been in the process of easing restrictions until now – first reopening schools in late February, before allowing hairdressers and some shops to resume business in March.
But the slow pace of Europe’s vaccination roll-out has left the vast majority of Germans still vulnerable to Covid, meaning cases of the virus soon began to rise.
Deaths had been slowly falling, but it now appears inevitable that the trend will reverse as case numbers shoot up.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bavarian State Premier Markus Soeder and Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller walk after a meeting with state leaders to discuss Covid regulations
Germany is one of several European countries facing tough new lockdown measures as cases spike amid a stalled vaccine roll-out that has left people unprotected
Angela Merkel previously warned that Germany would have to reimpose lockdown if cases soared above a certain level which was passed on Sunday (left). Deaths have been coming down steadily, but there are fears the trend will reverse
The EU has threatened to block millions of doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine from coming to the UK after Britain streaked ahead in the race to inoculate its population
Mrs Merkel had previously warned measures would have to tighten if the country’s infection rate went above 100 cases per 100,000 people because hospitals would overflow. It rose to 104 on Sunday and hit 107 on Monday, up from the mid-60s just three weeks ago.
Officials agreed to largely shut down public life from April 1-3, adding a public holiday and shutting down most stores for the period. Public gatherings will be banned from April 1-5, to encourage people to stay at home.
Amid concern over the rise in Germans traveling abroad on holidays, authorities also agreed on a blanket requirement for air travelers to be tested for COVID-19 before boarding a flight to Germany.
Drawing up legally watertight rules has proved a headache at times. A court in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, said Monday it struck down rules requiring people to get appointments to visit shops. It said they violated a requirement that businesses get equal treatment.
The state government promptly reinstated the rules, tightening them for some businesses – such as bookshops and garden centers – that were previously exempt.
According to Tuesday’s agreement, authorities will also aim to offer free tests to all students and teachers in German schools, many of which have only recently reopened after months of remote teaching.
Merkel said Germany, which had comparatively low deaths during the first phase of the pandemic last spring, has seen ‘successes but also of setbacks.’
The country’s vaccination campaign has lagged far behind expectations, with only about 9 per cent of the population receiving at least a first shot and 4 per cent receiving both doses by Sunday.
‘We don’t want our health system to be overloaded,’ Merkel said, noting that the new variant has caused severe illness also in younger people who are infected.
The tougher curbs were announced by Mrs Merkel in the early hours of Tuesday after a near 12-hour negotiating session with the leaders of Germany’s 16 regions. The country’s political system means it is these leaders who are ultimately responsible for imposing or lifting lockdowns.
Negotiations were gridlocked for several hours over the thorny issue of whether to allow domestic holidays to take place over the Easter school holidays.
Some regional leaders had argued it made little sense to allow people to fly out to the Spanish island of Mallorca for their holidays while banning residents from taking overnight stays in their own state.
But finally, the leaders agreed to ‘appeal urgently to all citizens to refrain from non-essential travel within the country and also abroad – also with regard to the upcoming Easter holidays.’
Berlin had also struck a deal with air carriers to ensure that all travellers returning to Germany would be tested, Merkel said.
The chancellor added that Germany was ‘in a race to vaccinate’ as the country struggles to accelerate its inoculation campaign.
Dogged by supply issues and mistrust over AstraZeneca’s jab, Germany’s vaccination campaign has been sluggish compared to the British or US programmes.
On Tuesday, Merkel said she would support her former defence minister and current EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s threat to block AstraZeneca vaccines produced in the bloc from being exported.
‘I support Commission President Ursula von der Leyen,’ said Merkel.
‘We have a problem with AstraZeneca,’ she added.
European officials are furious that AstraZeneca has been able to deliver its UK contract in full while falling short on its supplies to the EU.
In her tough warning to the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant last Saturday, von der Leyen said: ‘That’s the message to AstraZeneca: you fulfil your contract with Europe first before you start delivering to other countries.’
Meanwhile ministers in the Netherlands and Belgium have also warned that measures may have to get stricter as cases spike.
And in France thousands of fed-up people took to the streets of Marseilles on Sunday to flout lockdown rules – with protests also taking place in Germany, Holland, Austria, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Serbia and Poland.
The streets of Paris were also packed with spring sun-seekers yesterday despite the city going back into lockdown last week.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has threatened to join forces with the French and German governments to hold hostage more than 19 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to be shipped to the UK over the coming weeks
Similar situations are also playing out in Belgium and the Netherlands, where cases have been rising sharply in recent days.
Frank Vandenbroucke, the Belgian health minister, said on Monday that he is ‘very worried’ about the current situation in the country and warned that easing measures after Easter as currently forecast in now in doubt.
At a meeting on Sunday, ministers agreed on additional measures to be imposed on schools if they are allowed to reopen in April as forecast.
Another meeting has been scheduled for later this week, and Mr Vandenbroucke has refused to rule out imposing yet more measures.
‘I am very worried. In the coming days we have to see what is happening and what we must do,’ he said.
Ministers in the Netherlands also met on Sunday to discuss a possible easing of lockdown measures, but concluded that ‘pressure on the system is too high’ to allow even a partial return to normality.
Reopening universities and outdoor dining, which had been due to kick in from March 31 will likely not take place, De Telegraaf reported.