Germany will limit large parts of public life in areas where hospitals are becoming dangerously full of COVID-19 patients to those who have either been vaccinated or have recovered from the illness, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday.
The move is necessary to tackle a “very worrying” fourth wave of the pandemic that is overburdening hospitals, she said. “Many of the measures that are now needed would not have been needed if more people were vaccinated.
And it isn’t too late to get vaccinated now,” Merkel said. In places where hospitalization rates exceed a certain threshold, access to the public, cultural and sports events, and to restaurants will be restricted to those who have been vaccinated or who have recovered.
Merkel said the federal government would also consider a request by regional governments for legislation allowing them to require that care and hospital workers be vaccinated. Saxony, the region hardest hit by the fourth wave, is considering shutting theatres, concert halls, and soccer games, Bild newspaper reported.
The eastern state has Germany’s lowest vaccination rate. New daily infections have risen 14-fold in the past month in Saxony, a stronghold of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which harbors many vaccine skeptics and anti-lockdown protesters. READ MORE
