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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told politicians in her conservative party that she expects a lockdown in Germany to curb the spread of the coronavirus to last until early April, the Bild daily quoted meeting participants as saying.
“If we cannot stop this British virus, we will have 10 times more cases by Easter. We need eight to ten more weeks of tough measures, ”Bild quoted Ms Merkel.
Three meeting participants told Reuters that Merkel had not explicitly discussed an extension of the lockdown until April and had not warned of a tenfold increase in the number of infections in Germany.
“Merkel said the next eight to ten weeks would be very difficult if the British variant spreads to Germany,” one of the people said, adding that the chancellor had referred to a tenfold increase in the number of infections in Ireland. due to the new variant.
Germany tightened a national lockdown last week and extended it until late January amid fears that the most transmissible variant of the virus first discovered in Britain could put additional pressure on struggling hospitals.
On Tuesday, the Robert Kick Institute (SKI) for infectious diseases reported 12,802 new cases of coronavirus. The death toll from Covid-19 increased by 891 according to the SKI, bringing the overall death toll to 41,577.
Europe’s largest economy aims to be able to limit the spread of the virus until a sufficient number of its population has been vaccinated to achieve herd immunity.
The Prime Minister of the southern state of Bavaria, Markus Seeder, called for a discussion on the introduction of mandatory vaccinations for nursing home staff, as many of those working in homes were not planning to take hits against Covid-19. – Reuters
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