Germany will enter a strict shutdown for five days over Easter as it fights soaring infection rates fueled by variants in a “new pandemic,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday after marathon talks with regional leaders.
As well as extending existing measures including keeping cultural, leisure and sporting facilities shut through April 18, Merkel and Germany’s 16 state premiers agreed on a tougher shutdown from Thursday next week to April 5.
Almost all shops are to be closed during the five days, and religious services are to be moved online over Easter. Only grocers will be allowed to open on Saturday next week.
“The situation is serious. Case numbers are rising exponentially and intensive care beds are filling up again,” Merkel said.
The British variant has become the dominant strain circulating in Germany, she said, adding that “we are in a new pandemic.”
“Essentially, we have a new virus... It is much deadlier, much more infectious and infectious for much longer,” she said.
Europe’s biggest economy had begun easing restrictions, first reopening schools late last month, before allowing hairdressers and some shops to resume business this month.
However, Berlin and the federal states were forced to row back on relaxations this week as new infection numbers rose exponentially.
On Monday, the national incidence rate reached 107.3 cases per 100,000 people, with more than 7,700 new cases and 50 deaths.
Merkel and regional leaders agreed at the last round of talks that authorities would tighten the screws again if that rate struck 100 over three days.
“It is absolutely right that we are hitting the emergency brake,” Merkel said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing