BERLIN (AP) – The German government said on Tuesday that it is extending the country’s blockade for three weeks, until January 31, restricting social contacts and planning limits on the movement of people in the most affected regions, while trying to reduce the stubbornly high rates of infection and worrying numbers of coronavirus-related deaths.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was “absolutely necessary” to maintain the restrictions, especially in light of a more infectious variant of the virus that emerged in England.
“We need to get to the point where we can follow the chains of infection again,” said Merkel after a long video conference with 16 state governors in Germany. “Otherwise, we will continue to return to the block after a brief relaxation.”
The chancellor said that restrictions on social contacts will be tightened. People will be able to find only one person outside their home.
In a new shift, authorities across Germany will allow people in areas with more than 200 new infections per 100,000 residents over seven days to travel just 15 kilometers (just over nine miles) from their hometown, unless they have one. good reason to go further.
“In particular, day trips are not a good reason,” said Merkel. She pointed to a series of recent incidents in which hikers hoping to ski or sled invaded winter resorts, although elevators and other facilities are closed.
Merkel and the governors plan to meet again on January 25 on what will happen after the end of the month.
Germany launched a partial shutdown across the country on November 2, closing restaurants, bars, leisure and sports facilities. This failed to reduce infections, and the current blockade – which also closed stores and non-essential schools – went into effect on December 16. Initially, it was supposed to last until January 10.
Officials say the figures reported in Germany for COVID-19 cases are skewed by lower tests and delayed reports during the Christmas and New Year period. The country’s disease control center says it expects to have a reliable picture of what is happening only from 17 January, said Merkel.
But even according to current figures, Germany is far from its stated goal of getting new confirmed cases below 50 per 100,000 residents in seven days – the maximum level at which authorities say contact tracking can work correctly.
On Tuesday, the infection rate was 1.34.7 per 100,000 across the country, and an additional 944 deaths were reported to authorities in 24 hours, one of the highest daily numbers of deaths in a country that had a relatively low COVID-19 mortality during the first phase of the pandemic.
Merkel said the emergence of the new variant in England is “one more reason” to maintain restrictions. Some cases of the variant have been detected in Germany.
The chancellor defended Germany’s approach to vaccines after criticisms fueled by perceptions that Europe had a slow start and that the European Union was very hesitant to ask for the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, the only one so far released for use in the 27-country bloc. .
Germany vaccinated almost 317,000 people as of Tuesday, just over a week into the campaign. It is a better display than in many other EU countries, but critics point to faster progress in the UK, the United States and Israel.
Merkel said it was “right and important” that the EU, instead of each country, would ask for vaccines for the entire bloc. She said that “it is in Germany’s interest” as the country is surrounded by other EU member countries and in the middle of the EU’s trade zone which depends on open borders.
“A large number of people vaccinated in Germany combined with many who have not been vaccinated in our neighborhood will not be good for Germany,” she said. “So, we don’t want national solo efforts. We believe that the most effective health protection for us can be achieved through a common European procedure. “
Health Minister Jens Spahn, who has faced criticism from within Germany’s ruling coalition, has repeatedly said that vaccinations are progressing as expected and that the slow start is because teams are going to nursing homes first to vaccinate the most vulnerable. Merkel said she thinks Spahn is doing “a great job”.
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