Amid its latest COVID-19 blockade and a promising decline in new coronavirus infections, Germany is hesitant to ease restrictions because of the risk posed by a more contagious variant.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s 16 state governors decided on Tuesday to extend the country’s blockade for two weeks until February 14 and tighten some measures, for example, by requiring surgical masks – instead of just facial tissue coverings – in stores and on public transport.
On Thursday, Germany’s disease control center said 20,398 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, almost 5,000 less than a week ago. The number of new cases per 100,000 residents over seven days stood at 119, the lowest since the beginning of November – although still well above the level of 50 that the government intends. There were 1,013 more deaths, bringing Germany’s total so far to 49,783.
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The new variant, which has been detected in Germany and many other European countries, is not yet dominant there, but “we must take the danger of this mutation very seriously,” Merkel told reporters.
“We must slow down the spread of this mutation as much as possible, and that means … we must not wait until the danger is more tangible here,” she said. “Then it would be too late to avoid a third wave of the pandemic, and possibly an even heavier one than before. We can still avoid that ”.
Merkel said that Germany will not be able to open everything at once whenever the blockade ends, declaring that schools should open first.
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“We must be very careful not to see what happens in many countries: they do a rigid block, they open, they open a lot, and then they result in them being back to exponential growth very quickly,” she said.
She cited Britain’s experience in December, when the new variant gained momentum.