Angela Merkel pleads for tougher Covid curbs to fight stubborn outbreak

While vaccinations will start in the first quarter, she warned that the country won’t be able to carry out enough immunizations over the winter to change the course of the pandemic.

Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans to make an additional sacrifice over the Christmas holidays to contain the coronavirus as the country’s soft shutdown fails to slow its spread.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the government will seek to keep schools open, closing non-essential stores, sending children home for the holidays early and further reducing contact between people is the right path. (Reuters file photo)

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While the government will seek to keep schools open, closing non-essential stores, sending children home for the holidays early and further reducing contact between people is the right path, Merkel said on Wednesday in Berlin.

“We need to make one more effort,” she said in a speech in Germany’s lower house of parliament. “We’ve already spent so many months with this virus, and we’ve learned that we can do something against it.”

A soft shutdown, which closed bars, gyms and cinemas but allowed schools and other business to continue operating, has so far failed to lower Germany’s contagion rates to levels the government has determined to be manageable. Nations such as France and the UK, which had harsher lockdowns, are gradually easing measures.

While vaccinations will start in the first quarter, she warned that the country won’t be able to carry out enough immunizations over the winter to change the course of the pandemic. The latest incidence rate stands at 149 infections per 100,000 people over the past seven days, nearly three times the government’s target of 50.

“What will people say looking back at a once-in-a-century event if we can’t find a solution” for the coming weeks, the visibly emotional chancellor said. “If we have too many contacts before Christmas, and it turns out to be the last Christmas with the grandparents, we will have missed an opportunity.”

Germany had record Covid-19 fatalities over the past 24 hours, highlighting the government’s struggles to contain the disease. Some states like Bavaria and Saxony have tightened restrictions, and tougher nationwide measures could come next week.

With Germany currently holding the European Union presidency, Merkel is battling on multiple fronts. A post-Brexit trade deal with the UK hangs in the balance, and the bloc’s $2.2 trillion spending plan is under threat from a veto from Hungary and Poland. The German leader will travel to Brussels on Thursday to try to find ways forward.

For Germany’s future, she said it’s key to fight the pandemic in order to set the stage for growth and be in a position to return to pre-crisis economic levels in 2022.

“We should be careful not to destroy too many human lives and thereby keep the economy running,” Merkel said.