Germany’s outgoing health minister, Jens Spahn, has said the country faces a “bitter December” if immediate measures are not taken to try to control the spread of coronavirus.
Spahn announced a return to free testing from Saturday and plans to introduce a so-called 2G Plus rule, according to which people would have to be vaccinated or recovered in addition to producing a negative test in order to attend cultural, sporting and other gatherings.
The government declared neighbouring Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary to be high-risk areas, recommending Germans avoid travelling there.
Germany recorded a record infection rate for three days in a row this week. On Friday a further almost 49,000 cases were registered, slightly down on the previous day. But numbers are doubling every week and some hospitals are reporting being on the verge of not being able to cope.
The government’s disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute, called for the cancellation of major events, just as the carnival season gets under way and the Christmas markets are about to open.
Its head, Prof Lothar Wieler, speaking at a joint press conference this morning in Berlin with Spahn, said the fourth wave “is rolling on full power” describing the situation as “five minutes past 12”.
He added: “I for one will not be going to any New Years Eve party.”
In an effort to boost a flagging vaccine campaign, including encouraging top-up jabs, Spahn said doctors would receive €28 instead of €20 per jab, and a further bonus of €8 for jabs given at the weekend.
In the Netherlands, the government was expected to announce new lockdown measures on Friday after a record number of daily infections there – 16,364 – were registered.
According to media reports, there are plans for a three-week raft of restrictions including a 7pm closing time for restaurants, pubs and non-essential shops and a restriction on the size of private gatherings in households to just four additional people.
In Saxony, eastern Germany, where some of the highest numbers are being registered and the state with the lowest number of vaccinated people, similar to Thuringia and Bavaria, most unvaccinated there was anger on Friday after the state leader, Michael Kretschmer, called for the cancellation of Christmas markets for the second year in a row, which were due to open from next week.
This is recognised as potentially politically disastrous as the markets have a symbolic value in Germany as high as foreign holidays and a huge economic clout.
Meanwhile, in Cologne, the mayor has defended her decision to allow the carnival season to begin. Carnival-related events were seen as mass spreader opportunities at the start of the pandemic.
As more focus turns to administering a booster campaign – public messaging on which has been virtually non-existent so far, the Max Planck Institute said a rollout could help to break this fourth wave, which, owing to the spread of the Delta variant, is more aggressive than any previous wave.
Meanwhile, the Marburger Bund, the association representing a large number of German doctors has reported that its members are facing increasing aggression from patients in hospitals, particularly from those who have chosen not to be vaccinated.
There are growing reports of patients attacking doctors verbally and physically and of some demanding a range of alternative therapies that are not usually available under the public healthcare system.
