People pass by a sign remembering to wear the mandatory face mask in central Munich on March 4, 2021. (Photo by Alexander Pohl / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Alexander Pohl NurPhoto via Getty Images
LONDON – The head of Germany’s public health agency warned on Friday that a third wave of coronavirus infections has already begun.
It comes at a time when the country has begun to gradually relax its blocking restrictions, amid a government-led effort to accelerate the implementation of vaccination for as many adults as possible.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had warned that the country could be caught in a third wave of infections if restrictive public health measures were lifted too quickly.
Meanwhile, Italy is expected to impose another quasi-national blockade over Easter weekend in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.
The measure, which is expected to be sanctioned on Friday, comes just over a year after the country became the first country to impose blockade measures across the country.
What’s going on in Germany?
“We have clear signs: the third wave in Germany has already started,” Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, told reporters during a news conference on Friday.
“The virus will not disappear, but as soon as we have a basic level of immunity in the population, we can control it,” he added.
Wieler said he was “very concerned” about the public health crisis. He described Germany’s vaccination campaign as a race against a constantly evolving virus, but expressed confidence that the country would be able to control the virus.
Until then, Wieler reaffirmed the importance of people wearing face masks in public and keeping a safe distance from others.
The RKI said on Thursday that the number of confirmed cases of Covid in a 24-hour period increased by 14,356, the highest daily count recorded in Germany in the past two weeks. This reflected an increase of 2,444 cases in the previous week.
The recent increase coincides with the spread of a highly infectious variant of the virus first discovered in the United Kingdom. The variant, known as B.1.1.7, was considered responsible for more than 46% of new infections across the country.
To date, more than 2.5 million people have contracted Covid in Germany, with 73,127 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Italy ready for Easter confinement
The administration of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has held talks with regional governments and local authorities to discuss the imposition of tougher health measures from March 15 to April 6, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Friday, citing unidentified sources.
As part of these measures, Italy must combat the spread of the virus by placing almost the entire country in its so-called “red zone” from 3 to 5 April, a period that includes Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
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The red zone is the maximum level of restrictions in Italy’s layered coronavirus system. At this level, schools, non-essential stores, restaurants and bars will all be closed.
Sardinia, a large Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea, is currently the only region in the country’s white zone. This decision, announced on March 1, means that many measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus have been abandoned in this area.
At the national level, the total number of Covid infections in Italy exceeded 3 million last week, largely driven by the rapid spread of variant B.1.1.7. To date, Italy has recorded 3.1 million cases of Covid and 101,184 deaths.