BERLIN —
Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday called on
Germans to stick to tighter coronavirus restrictions imposed in areas with high
infection rates over the weekend, saying the step was needed to break a third
wave of infections.
اضافة اعلان
Both chambers of parliament approved the amendments to the
Infection Protection Act earlier this week to give the federal government more
powers to fight the third wave in the pandemic.
Merkel drew up the law after some of the 16 federal states
refused to implement tougher measures despite a surge in COVID-19 cases and in
defiance of a lockdown agreement reached in March.
"This is something new in our fight against the
pandemic. And I am convinced that it's urgently needed," Merkel said in
her weekly video podcast.
"It serves the goal of first slowing down the third
wave of the pandemic, then stopping it and finally reversing it."
Like many other European countries, Germany is struggling to
contain an aggressive third wave of cases, with efforts being complicated by
the more contagious B117 variant, which first emerged in the UK, and a
relatively slow vaccination start.
If the number of infections goes down in the coming weeks,
systematic testing will help to enable a controlled and sustainable loosening
of restrictions, Merkel promised.
"And our vaccination campaign, it's gaining momentum.
It is the key to overcoming the pandemic," the chancellor added.
"I am convinced that if we can now manage to reduce
infections significantly and quickly, we will be able to relax them step by
step in the foreseeable future," Merkel said.
"Let us now do what is necessary again and together
show each other respect and responsibility," she added.
The new law enables the government to impose curfews between
midnight and 5AM (local time CET) in areas where the virus incidence exceeds
100 cases per 100,000 residents on three days in a row. The rules include
stricter limits to private gatherings, sport and shop openings.
Schools will have to close and return to online lessons if
the virus incidence exceeds 165 cases per 100,000 residents on three days in a
row.
Factories and offices remain open, with employers expected
to enable most employees to work from home and to offer frequent coronavirus
tests for those who cannot work remotely.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany
increased by 23,392 over the past 24 hours to 3,268,645, data from the Robert
Koch Institute (
RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday. The nationwide
seven-day average of cases per 100,000 people stood roughly unchanged at 164.
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