Germany calls for further curbs to contain 'dramatic' surge in cases
Health minister calls virus situation 'dramatic', does not rule out lockdowns
BERLIN : Germany's health minister yesterday called for further restrictions to contain a "dramatic" surge in coronavirus cases as the country's infection rate hit a record high and the US advised against travel there.
The seven-day incidence rate - the number of people for every 100,000 to be infected over the last week - hit 399.8 yesterday, up from 386.5 on Monday, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed.
Health Minister Jens Spahn called for more public spaces to be restricted to those who were vaccinated or recently recovered from Covid-19 and also had a negative test, in a bid to contain Germany's fourth wave.
Mr Spahn did not rule out lockdowns, although he said this would be decided region by region. Some regions such as hard-hit Saxony and Bavaria are already taking measures such as cancelling Christmas markets.
SERIOUS
"The situation is not only serious, in some regions in Germany it is now dramatic," Mr Spahn told German Radio. "We are having to move patients around as the intensive care units are full and that doesn't just affect Covid-19 patients."
With Germany grappling with concerns about supply of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, the company brought forward the delivery of one million doses originally planned for next month, Mr Spahn told Health Ministry officials on Monday, according tosources.
That would enable it to deliver three million instead of two million doses next week as people rush to get booster shots and appointments at vaccine centres are booked out.
Whether it would affect the total number of vaccines assigned to Germany for the rest of the year remained to be decided, the sources said.
The surge in cases in Germany, and in neighbouring Denmark, prompted the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday to advise against travel to the two countries, raising its travel recommendation to "Level Four: Very High".
The force of the fourth wave has prompted more politicians to back compulsory vaccinations, a divisive topic likely to face Germany's new government.
Only 68 per cent of the population are fully vaccinated.
Some 7.3 per cent of citizens have had a booster and while long queues have formed in many places for a third shot, Mr Spahn has tried to allay concerns about supply.
"Compulsory vaccination is not a violation of civil liberties, but the prerequisite for us to regain our freedom," wrote the premiers of the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily.
The ALM association of medical laboratories said capacity for polymerase chain reaction testing was reaching its limits with nationwide utilisation at 86 per cent, up from 75 per cent in the previous week, while the number of positive PCR tests had jumped by 31 per cent. - REUTERS
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