Those who have yet to be vaccinated are to face additional restrictions after German leaders held talks on Thursday.
Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz spoke with state leaders and agreed on new measures to curb a dramatic spike in coronavirus cases.
Unvaccinated people are to be barred from accessing almost all businesses, except for grocery stores and pharmacies, as Merkel joined Scholz in backing mandatory vaccines.
What was announced?
Federal and state leaders agreed to the following:
- Shops, restaurants, museums, movie theaters for vaccinated or recovered people only
- Additional tests for the vaccinated
- Bundestag to vote on mandatory vaccines in early 2022
- Nightclubs, music venues to close in areas where incidence rate hits 350
- New measures will take effect once approved by lawmakers, likely in the coming days
- A maximum of 15,000 spectators will be allowed in football stadiums
- Indoor sports venues will have a maximum of 5,000 in attendance
- Private gatherings for unvaccinated will be limited to one household
- Mask requirements in schools
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
ICUs are full
Hospitalization rates — the number of people admitted to hospital with COVID-19 — have reached the highest levels of last December. Intensive care units are filling up, patients have to be transported across the country to hospitals that still have capacity. Operations have to be cancelled, leaving cancer sufferers and other patients in the lurch.
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
Longer stays
A COVID-19 patient with venous access lines and a tracheostomy sits in the intensive care unit of Dresden's municipal hospital. Using hospitalization rates as an incidence value is controversial: They show the incidence of infection, but only with a delay. Also, many COVID patients are younger than in previous waves. They spend longer in intensive care, meaning beds are not freed up as quickly.
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
Final warning
Undertakers have been overwhelmed, with coffins lined up here in front of a crematorium oven. On one of the lids, the word "Corona" has been written in chalk — a warning to the people who work there. The elderly and the unvaccinated are still most at risk of dying of the virus, but there are more and more breakthrough infections.
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
Fears for the elderly...
In recent weeks, there have been numerous outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term care homes and retirement communities in which residents have died. This is one reason why the German government is considering mandatory vaccinations for health care workers. Italy, France and Greece have already made the move, and Austria will soon follow suit.
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
...and for the young
Self-testing in kindergartens and schools is now routine for children. No other population group is tested as regularly and extensively for COVID-19. Yet the incidence among 5 to 14-year-olds is up to three times higher than average. In an effort to stem a rise in cases, the European Medicines Agency approved the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine on November 25.
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
Virus along for the ride
Since last week, new rules have applied in trains, trams and buses, such as here in Hamburg: Only those who have been vaccinated, tested negative, or have recently recovered from infection can use them. Drivers and on-board personnel are supposed to enforce this rule, but can only really do spot checks. Mask-wearing is still mandatory; those who don't comply face fines of up to €150 (about $170).
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
Drive-through vaccination
Because the vaccination rate is faltering, the German government intends to focus once again on low-threshold vaccination incentives, like vaccination drive-ins and mobile vaccination teams. It also wants to push ahead as fast as possible with the third booster vaccination — to "winter-proof" Germany's population, as Olaf Scholz, the presumed chancellor-elect, has said.
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
Open wide...
Given the increasing number of breakthrough infections and the decline in vaccination protection after six months, it seems that this is sorely needed. The only other thing that will help is systematic testing. For just one month, from October 11 to November 11, people were required to pay for tests, but these are now free again — irrespective of vaccination status.
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
My home is my office
Anyone who doesn't absolutely have to commute to work should therefore stay at home. The original working-from-home requirement ended in Germany in June — but now it's back. With infection rates spiraling, reducing contacts has to take precedence. Wherever possible, workplaces have been relocated back to the home office — to the kitchen table, or the sofa.
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
Lebkuchen or lockdown?
Christmas markets are starting to open in German towns, although many, like this one in Freiburg, have strict access rules and have limited visitor numbers. However, the state of Bavaria has responded to the extremely high infection rates by clamping down. Municipalities with a seven-day incidence of more than 1,000 must go into lockdown, and their Christmas markets must also remain closed.
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Germany caught up in fourth COVID wave
Tragic number
A man in a cemetery in Bonn mourns his dead wife — one of the 100,000 people in Germany who have died of COVID-19. Over the past few weeks, the number of those dying of COVID and infected with the virus has risen daily. On October 1, it was 66. On November 18, the Robert Koch Institute recorded 201 such deaths.
Author: Thomas Latschan
With the omicron variant increasing fears of worsening an already critical situation in Germany and the country's hospitals on the verge of breaking point, Merkel said: "The situation is very serious. The number of infections has stabilized but on far too high a level."
Merkel said an ethics committee will be asked to draft legislation to make vaccination compulsory, with the Bundestag debating and voting on the issue early in the new year.
Scholz, who is expected to be announced as Germany's new chancellor next week, said getting vaccinated is "how we get out of this crisis" and "if we had a higher vaccination rate, we wouldn't be discussing this now."
Just under 69% of Germany's population are fully vaccinated — one of the lowest vaccination rates in western Europe.
Virologists said much of the surge is due to vaccine resistance and skepticism in a large section of society.
What is the pandemic situation in Germany?
Germany has seen a record spike in coronavirus cases — with scientists and health care experts criticizing the government for taking action too late.
Up to 6,000 people could be in intensive care units by Christmas, warned the head of the country's intensive care association DIVI on Wednesday.
While the number of deaths is much lower than it was at its peak last winter, the current number of infections at present is considerably higher — with 74,000 new cases logged on Thursday alone.
Concerns over the new omicron variant are also high, with Germany confirming several cases. Scientists are working to gather data on how transmissible it is and how effective vaccines are against it.
There are signs, however, that the curb could be flattening in Germany, as the seven-day incidence rate among 100,000 residents fell to 439.2 on Thursday — decreasing for the third day in a row.
jsi, rs/sms (dpa, Reuters, AFP, AP)
