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In light of a new record number of crown deaths, a tough post-Christmas lockdown looms: the chancellor urges quick decisions. Some prime ministers join her.
In the Bundestag, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) urged extensive closures around the turn of the year on Wednesday, but also called for short-term countermeasures, such as an earlier start of school holidays before the holidays. An initial crisis summit of the federal and state governments is still being debated.
“We have to work hard now” and “get through it together,” urged the chancellor in the Bundestag. Stores must be closed in a phase until January 10, school holidays must also be extended or switched to digital lessons. Therefore, he expressly joined the demands of the Leopoldina Academy of Sciences for a total blockade at the national level.
Merkel also called for more decisive countermeasures before Christmas. The current development worries you. Everything possible must be done so that an exponential growth in the number of infections does not occur again. Therefore, you have to think about whether the holidays could not start on December 16 or if they would move on to digital classes.
The price of 590 deaths per crown in one day was not acceptable, the chancellor said. The Robert Koch Institute reported this new record for deaths on Wednesday morning. “If we have too many contacts now before Christmas and then it was the last Christmas with the grandparents, then we will have missed something,” said the Chancellor.
Merkel called the coronavirus vaccines expected from January “a ray of hope.” However, he also warned of too high expectations: “We will not be able to carry out so many vaccinations in the first quarter that we can feel a significant change in the situation of the population.”
It is not yet clear if and when Merkel and the heads of government of the countries will meet for another crisis summit in the coming days. The Federal Chancellor was “basically open” to further high-level consultations, said Government Vice President Martina Fietz. According to a media report, a decision could be made this Sunday.
Laschet calls for “year-end lockdown”
North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) has spoken in favor of a hard shutdown from December 27. After the holidays, politics should follow the recommendation of the Leopoldina Academy of Sciences and enter a “year-end lockdown,” Laschet said in Berlin. Damage is minimal during this time.
Laschet also reiterated his call for uniform solutions to the pandemic. “We need a common German response to the growing number of infections,” Laschet said. A consensus of all 16 federal states on the “school question” is also needed.
Karl Lauterbach, an SPD health expert, criticized Laschet’s proposal for not going far enough. A blockade only after Christmas comes “too short and too late,” Laschet told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”. “We cannot afford to wait until after Christmas with the closing.” Mulled wine sales in the cities should end immediately, school holidays should start next week.
Schleswig-Holstein announces that it will do it only in a difficult lockdown
Meanwhile, the Schleswig-Holstein state government has announced that it will significantly toughen its course. It is necessary “that we enter into a hard lockdown before Christmas at the latest, in order to use the time during the turn of the year to stop this dangerous development in Germany,” Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) said on Wednesday morning. night in Kiel. By that he meant December 24. The numbers continued to rise in the north “and that unfortunately means that our strict measures are not having a sufficient effect.”
The head of government had previously spoken in favor of a tough blockade after Christmas. The Jamaican coalition has already agreed to ban alcohol consumption in public. The situation is dramatic, Günther said in plenary.
According to the state government, 314 new corona cases were recently reported in Schleswig-Holstein in one day. The highest number was announced on December 4 with 318 new infections. The country has been a risk area since Sunday because the value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants had risen to more than 50 in the last seven days. But the regional differences are great.
Söder: “Close everything”
Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder also spoke in favor of a “complete lockdown” from Christmas to January 10. “Just shut down everything from stores to company holidays at many companies. If everyone participates, that would be great. Then we would have just under three weeks where we could just cut back on contacts. A better time than the time between Christmas and 10 am. January will not be found for the entire year, “the CSU chief said Wednesday night on ZDF’s” Markus Lanz “panel discussion.
In Bavaria, stricter rules such as exit restrictions, alcohol bans in city centers and curfews at hotspots have been in place since Wednesday. When asked why Bavaria is not shutting down public life like it is in Saxony, Söder referred in the ZDF program to reducing infection rates on the one hand, exit restrictions, alcohol bans in some places and the fact that 40 percent of students are no longer in classes in the classroom for the other. Also, closing stores now carries the risk that alternative traffic to other countries will not bring the desired success.
Söder was confident that there would be a round between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the ministers of state before Christmas. Due to the Chancellor’s appointments at the EU summit, this could happen at the earliest on the weekend or early next week.
Kretschmer: “We decided on the Saxon route”
Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) said in the ZDF “heute journal” when asked if that round would meet on Sunday that there were many discussions. “We have now decided on our Saxon route and will follow it consistently,” Kretschmer said. In the Free State, schools, kindergartens, after-school care centers and many stores will close as of next Monday. Grocery stores and basic necessities stores must remain open. Keeping shops, schools and daycare centers open, “that won’t have this effect,” Kretschmer told ZDF. He hoped that common results could be achieved with the other countries. In recent days, Saxony had become the country’s largest hotspot for the pandemic.
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) announced that the federal government will provide people over 60 years of age and members of other risk groups with the first FFP2 respirators before the turn of the year. In each case, three pieces are given to each authorized person free of charge at the pharmacy. For next year, those eligible will receive two additional coupons for six masks each.
