Germany crossed the threshold of one million people who have tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday since the start of the pandemic, announced the Robert Koch health watch institute.
Considered to be one of the good European students in the management of the epidemic but hit hard by the second wave, Germany had on Friday 1,006,394 officially declared patients (+22,806 in 24 hours) and 15,586 deaths (+426 ), according to the institute.
The state-region of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous in Germany, leads the most affected Länder with more than 250,000 cases, ahead of Bavaria, with nearly 198,000 people infected, and Baden-Baden. Württemberg (nearly 143,000). In Berlin, nearly 62,000 cases have been identified since the start of the coronavirus epidemic.
Germany will extend until early January its restrictions to fight Covid-19, including the closure of bars and restaurants and the limitations of participants in private meetings, Angela Merkel announced Wednesday evening.
“We still have to make efforts (…) the number of daily infections is still at a much too high level,” said the Chancellor after more than seven hours of discussions with the leaders of the 16 states regional German.
The restrictions decided at a previous meeting in November will therefore continue to apply “until the beginning of January, unless we have an unexpected decrease in the infection rate but that is unlikely at this stage”, had explained Mme Merkel.
Bars, restaurants, cultural venues and sports clubs should therefore remain closed for more than a month. Ski resorts will remain closed and access to shops will also be restricted, with a limited number of customers depending on their size.