Angela Merkel backs imposing restrictions in Germany amid rising COVID cases

Chancellor Angela Merkel is in the favour of imposing a “short national lockdown” and tightening the restrictions until the rising covid numbers are tamed. Ulrike Demmer also commented on the exponentially growing pressure on the country’s health system. 

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Germany has been struggling to keep the number of cases from increasing and has been in a partial shutdown since November. However, there has been a sudden rise owing to the British variant of the virus. 

Merkel and the leaders of the 16 states collectively agreed upon the need for strict national rules including shutdowns and curfews in areas with more than 100 new infections. But Germany’s federal system allows for each state to ultimately make their own rules. Hence some states have failed to impose restrictions and others had even started with reopening measures. 

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On Wednesday Merkel also announced that there was a 5% increase in the occupied intensive care beds in a matter of one day. 

10,000 new infections were recorded in Germany with a 101.1 incidence rate. Due to a delay in the reporting during the 4-day Easter weekend, Robert Koch Institute health agency says that the number could be higher.