Merkel Presses German States to Get Tough With COVID Curbs

Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed German states today, Sunday, to intensify efforts to curb the increasing number of infections with the Coronavirus, and raised the possibility of a curfew in an attempt to control the third wave.

“We have our emergency brakes … unfortunately they are not respected everywhere. I hope there will be some thought about this,” Merkel said in a rare appearance on ARD television.

On Sunday, the virus infection rate per 100,000 rose to 130 from 104 a week ago.

And data from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases showed today that the total number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Germany increased by 17 thousand and 176 to 2 million 772 thousand and 401 cases.

The outcome showed that the number of deaths rose to 75,870, after 90 deaths were recorded.

Merkel said that if states do not start implementing measures with appropriate seriousness in the “very foreseeable future”, they will have to think about steps that can be taken nationwide.

One of the options, Merkel said, would be to amend the Infection Protection Act to stipulate what should happen under specific scenarios, adding that the government and the states are obligated to contain the infection.

She added that she is not convinced that the measures taken so far are sufficient to break the third wave of the epidemic.