No New Year's Eve Parties, Merkel Tells Germans

 

Germans have been told they can't have New Year's Eve parties and social contact will be restricted for all of the winter to tackle coronavirus according to chancellor Angela Merkel.

Chancellor Merkel warned 'the light at the end of the tunnel is a long way off' on the first day of a four-week lockdown which shutters bars, theatres, gyms and cinemas. 

She said the success of the November lockdown would be crucial in dictating Germany's next steps and that she hoped for a 'turnaround.'  

But she ruled out 'lavish New Year's Eve parties,' as she said: 'It will be a Christmas under corona conditions but it should not be a lonely Christmas.'

Germany has joined Spain, Belgium, Greece and France in imposing second national lockdowns. There are also increased restrictions in Italy.  

'Throughout the winter months, we will have to limit private contacts,' Merkel told Monday's news conference. 'The light at the end of the tunnel is still quite a long way off.' 

'We are dependent on the cooperation, acceptance and understanding of the people in our country for this to work,' she added. 'It's in everyone's own hands to make this November a joint success, a turnaround.'

In France, supermarkets have been told that they cannot sell non-essential goods after smaller shopkeepers reacted furiously to their still offering clothes, beauty products and flowers.

Similar to the restrictions imposed in Wales, the French government said it was not fair for supermarkets to profit from goods which could not be sold by smaller retailers during the new national lockdown.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told RTL radio: 'What can be sold in supermarkets is what can be sold in small shops. Today a shop selling computer equipment can remain open because it is useful for home working, it will be the same in supermarkets. Hygiene products can be sold in supermarkets and pharmacies.'

He also said that overcrowding in supermarkets was unacceptable and that they would have to stick to the rule of a maximum of one person per four square metres, or 250 people in a 1,000 square metre supermarket.

'I demand that the number of people is checked at the entrance. If it appears that this limit is not sufficiently safe, we will tighten it,' he said. 

In France, people are only allowed to leave their homes to buy essential goods, for medical reasons or to exercise. The measures are due to run until at least December 1.

Another 46,290 cases of coronavirus were recorded on Sunday and 231 new deaths. The seven-day average is 39,344 new cases and 323 deaths, but there are usually lags on reporting over the weekend.

The figures compare to 52,010 cases and 116 deaths recorded last Sunday.

In Germany, the rules allow groups of up to 10 people, from a maximum of two households to meet in public places.

Germans have been asked not to make non-essential journeys and hotels are barred from accommodating people on tourist trips.  

On Saturday, the national disease control centre reported the highest number of infections in one day - 19,059 - since the pandemic began.

Figures at the beginning of the week tend to be lower, and the centre reported 12,097 cases Monday. But that compared with 8,685 a week earlier, underlining the upward trend. 

Germany has reported over 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past week.

That is fewer than in many other European countries, but far above the 50 mark that officials set earlier this year as an alarm signal that requires action by local authorities.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors are to review the situation after two weeks and discuss whether the measures need to be adjusted. 

'The aim is to get back under this level of 50 at which health offices are in a position to trace contacts,' Merkel's chief of staff, Helge Braun, told RBB Inforadio.

Merkel said last week that authorities are currently unable to trace the source of three-quarters of infections. 

Asked whether the restrictions might last beyond November, Braun replied: 'Our declared aim is that we want to end the measures in this strictness at the end of November.'

'This is also about enabling Christmas business for German companies, and Christmas celebrations with the family for all of us,' he added. 'I consider that important ... the stricter the measures, the quicker they work, so we decided on relatively strict measures.'

Belgium has also imposed a similar partial lockdown. Non-essential shops have been shut and any services that require close contact - such as hairdressers - have also been closed.