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BERLIN: Germany will close most stores from Wednesday until at least January 10, shortening the busy Christmas shopping season as it tightens coronavirus restrictions and attempts to slow the spread of the disease, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday (December 13). ).
“I would have liked lighter measures. But due to Christmas shopping, the number of social contacts has increased considerably,” Merkel told reporters after a meeting with leaders of the country’s 16 federal states.
“There is an urgent need to act,” he said.
Only essential stores such as supermarkets and pharmacies, as well as banks, will remain open from December 16. Beauty salons, hair salons, and tattoo parlors will also need to close.
The government will support the affected companies with a total of around € 11 billion (US $ 13.3 billion) a month. Companies that are forced to close can receive up to 90 percent of fixed costs, or up to 500,000 euros a month, said Finance Minister Olaf Scholz.
Schools will be closed in principle and employers will be asked to close operations or for employees to work from home. The sale of fireworks will be banned before New Year’s Eve.
Germany has been in partial lockdown for six weeks, with bars and restaurants closed, while shops and schools have remained open. Some regions have already imposed tougher measures as infections increased.
“The ‘closing light’ has had an impact, but it was not enough,” Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder said. “The situation is out of control.”
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Private gatherings will be limited to no more than five people from two households. For the Christmas holidays, the rule will be relaxed a bit so that families can celebrate together.
Merkel and Soeder said it was too early to say whether the economy could reopen after January 10.
New infections and daily deaths have reached records in recent days, and more politicians have sounded the alarm.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, was more successful than many European countries in keeping the pandemic under control in the first wave of March and April. But it has been struggling to turn the tide in the second wave.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose by 20,200 to 1,320,716, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday. The reported death toll rose from 321 to 21,787, the tally showed.
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