BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to take control from federal states to impose restrictions on regions with high numbers of coronavirus infections, a government spokeswoman said, in a battle to curb the pandemic’s a third wave.
The federal government plans to introduce draft legislation next week, she said.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said this will include compulsory measures in regions with 100 or more new coronavirus cases per 100,000 people over seven days.
Above an incidence of 200, distance learning was planned for schools again, he added.
The incidence figure reached a high near 200 in late December, soon after Germany went from a “lockdown lite” that started in early November, during which schools and stores were open, to a full shutdown.
It last stood at 110.4, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases.
However, containment measures in Germany vary from region to region due to the country’s decentralized federal system.
In some regions, consumers can go shopping as long as they have a negative COVID-19 test, while stores are closed in others.
Some, like Berlin, have introduced nighttime bans on gatherings, while others, like Saarland, have allowed restaurants and beer gardens to open outdoor seating.
“It makes good sense to regulate this uniformly for the whole of Germany, because then there will be clarity and transparency,” Scholz told reporters.
“In this regard, it is a necessary, real step forward if we expand the infection (protection) law to include a regulation for exactly these cases.”
Merkel and several regional leaders have called for a short, sharp nationwide lockdown while Germany — Europe’s biggest economy and most populous country — tries to vaccinate more people.
“Rules on social distancing, mask mandates, curfews and social distancing should be regulated at a national level,” said Armin Laschet, chairman of Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 25,464 in a day, which was 3,576 more than a week earlier, data from the RKI showed on Friday.
But the institute cautioned that the figures may be skewed following the long Easter holiday weekend, adding it expected reliable case numbers from around the middle of next week.
A meeting of Merkel and the leaders of Germany’s 16 states scheduled for Monday, at which they were to discuss an extension to COVID restrictions, has been canceled, the government spokeswoman said.
German health minister Jens Spahn warned that nationwide measures were necessary to break the current wave of coronavirus infections as quickly as possible.
He told journalists that there were currently nearly 4,500 coronavirus patients in intensive care in Germany, adding: “If this continues, it will be too much for our health system.”
Germany’s top public health official said a lockdown lasting two-four weeks was necessary to break the third wave.
“Every day in which we don’t act, we lose lives,” Lothar Wieler, president of the RKI, said.
Merkel to take control from German states in pandemic battle
https://arab.news/2sdud
Merkel to take control from German states in pandemic battle
- Containment measures in Germany vary between regions due to decentralized federal system
- Top public health official said a two-four weeks lockdown is necessary to break the third wave
Russia increasing hybrid threats around Sweden: Swedish military intelligence
- “Russia has, in certain cases, stepped up actions and increased its presence,” Nilsson said
- Russia was “constantly developing its capabilities and was ready to take greater risks and use them“
STOCKHOLM: Russia has stepped up its hybrid threat activities and seems willing to take greater risks in Sweden and the region, the head of Sweden’s military intelligence told AFP on Tuesday.
“Russia has, in certain cases, stepped up actions and increased its presence — and perhaps with a greater risk appetite — in our vicinity,” Thomas Nilsson, head of Sweden’s Military Intelligence and Security Service (MUST), told AFP.
He added that he believed Moscow would “unfortunately” continue doing so — regardless of whether it succeeds in Ukraine or not.
Nilsson did not cite any particular attacks, but MUST said in its yearly threat review released Tuesday that Russia “has developed a wide range of methods that can be used within the framework of hybrid warfare,” including disinformation, cyberattacks, economic sanctions, intelligence operations, and election interference.
“A certain desperation can set in, where you push even harder to reach your goals,” Nilsson said, referring to Russia.
Conversely, he said that if Russia were to succeed “that can lead to an increased appetite for risk.”
Russia was “constantly developing its capabilities and was ready to take greater risks and use them.”
“Including what I call advanced sabotage. Including assassination plots, serious arson, and attacks on critical societal infrastructure,” he said.
In its review, the agency noted that so far “the most risk-prone actions through sabotage and hybrid measures have mainly affected other allies.”
But Nilsson also told AFP that Sweden’s security situation had continued to deteriorate, as it has in previous years, particularly since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is also the main “military threat to Sweden and NATO,” the review stated, warning the threat was likely to grow as Russia increases resources for its armed forces.
“Alongside resources for the war in Ukraine, Russia is reinforcing its resources in the Baltic Sea region, as it is a strategically very important region for Russia, both economically and militarily,” MUST wrote in the review.
MUST said that the Baltic Sea build-up “has already begun,” but added that “the pace will be affected” by the course of the war in Ukraine as well as the Russian economy and the country’s relations with China.
The report came as Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were due to meet in Geneva for fresh US-brokered talks seeking to end the four-year war, as both sides accused the other of a fresh wave of long-range strikes.
