Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Germans to accept nationwide pandemic restrictions that came into force at midnight, resulting in a 10 pm-5 am curfews, further limits on personal contacts and access to non-essential stores in regions with high infection rates.
In her weekly video address Saturday, Merkel acknowledged the new rules are “tough” but insisted they are needed to curb the spread of the virus in the country.
Germany’s disease control agency on Friday reported 23,392 newly
confirmed cases and more 286 deaths from COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, Germany has recorded almost 3.3 million cases and 81,444 deaths.
Merkel says the new measures, which automatically start regions with more than 100 newly reported cases a week per 100,000 inhabitants, are “urgently needed.”