Germany is preparing for a tougher lockdown before Christmas

BERLIN, December 11 (Reuters) – Germany must shut down more parts of society before Christmas to try to bring the coronavirus pandemic under control, ministers said on Friday as Europe’s largest economy reported a record number of daily infections and deaths.

The government of the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg said Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the 16 federal states would discuss new measures to slow the spread of the virus on Sunday.

Germany recorded a record number of almost 30,000 new infections every day with the coronavirus and almost 600 deaths, as data from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases showed on Friday.

Economics Minister Peter Altmaier said the rise in the number of infections was worrying and the government and prime ministers would have to consider whether the lockdown measures would be extended to other parts of society.

“This will result in a lockdown that is in many ways similar to what happened earlier this year,” he said at a virtual press conference.

Germany, the most populous nation in the European Union, was partially locked down early last month, restaurants and bars closed, and the number of people allowed to meet but has kept shops and schools open.

Some parts of the country have already started tougher measures, including southern Bavaria, which has the highest death toll in Germany and where people have only been allowed to leave their homes for compelling reasons since Wednesday.

Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Germany should impose a tougher lockdown before Christmas in order to slow the spread of the pandemic.

“If we wait until Christmas, we will have to struggle with high numbers for months,” he told the “Spiegel”.

Merkel has called on the federal states, which are responsible for most of the measures to combat the epidemic, to introduce tougher measures before Christmas, but is met with opposition.

Manuela Schwesig, the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which has the second lowest incidence of the virus, spoke out in favor of closing shops from December 21.

Reporting by Thomas Seythal and Caroline Copley; Adaptation by Mark Heinrich

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