As worries about coronavirus variant B.1.1.529 led to travel restrictions being imposed on some African countries, other countries in Central Europe have seen cases of Covid-19 went high when they issued a lockdown and severe warning.
Germany’s Acting Health Minister Jens Spahn says “words of caution [have] not reaching everyone in Germany” at a health news conference in Berlin, warning that “contact restrictions must be reduced”.
Spahn urged that “if decisive action is not taken now, drastic measures will be taken in the coming weeks.”
Spahn said Germany must do more to tackle record levels of infections. Last week, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the country was restricting public access to the unvaccinated.
The head of the country’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI) Lothar Wieler, emphasized again in the same press conference: ”We need to drastically reduce contact between people – immediately. “The number of patients in ICUs is growing rapidly.”
Wieler said that in some Covid-19 hotspot areas, patient transfers to others have begun as the ICU fills up.
Germany on Friday broke a record for the number of daily Covid-19 infections with 76,414 new cases in just one day. On Tuesday, Germany recorded 75,961 Covid-19 cases.
According to RKI data, more than 100,000 people have died from coronavirus in Germany. The country reported 357 new deaths related to Covid-19 between Thursday and Friday.
According to the RKI, the country’s 7-day infection rate has also hit a new record, reaching 438.2 cases per 100,000 people. The new total for Covid-19 cases in Germany is now 5,650,170.
German health experts say one of the reasons for this increase is that the country’s complete vaccination rate, just under 68%, is one of the lowest in Western Europe. According to the RKI, about 32% have no protection against the virus.
Other countries take action: Austria has launched a national strike. Slovakia is closed until December 9, and the state of emergency will last for 90 days. NS Netherlands has returned to partial lockdown, and Hungary and the Czech Republic are among the four new additions on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s highest-risk travel category.
-Amy Cassidy and Maureen O’Hare contributed to this report.
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