Germany pondering new lockdown amid spike

Calls grew Friday for tougher lockdown measures soon in Germany as the country's disease control center reported record daily increases in both coronavirus cases and deaths.

The Robert Koch Institute said the country's 16 states reported 29,875 new cases of COVID-19, breaking the previous daily record of 23,679 cases reported the day before.

The number of deaths from the virus rose by 598, to a total of 20,970.

The previous daily record of deaths was 590, set on Wednesday.

Under current restrictions implemented at the beginning of November as numbers were growing exponentially, restaurants, bars, leisure, and sports facilities have been closed and hotels are closed to tourists, but schools and nonessential shops have remained open.

The numbers had plateaued — but at high daily levels — and have again been rising in recent days.

German health minister Jens Spahn indicated Friday that tougher measures were on their way.

"The virus takes only limited account of whether or not we have all finished our Christmas shopping," he said.

That's why additional measures are undoubtedly needed uniformly throughout Germany, better sooner than later.

Several states have already announced new restrictions on their own.

Prospects of a united approach appear to be rising, though, as ever more governors say the situation is alarming.

We have to shut down the country for the next few weeks. Some had always said between Christmas and New Year, but that is clearly too little, then it would have no effect at all, said Bavarian Minister-President Markus Soeder.

"We are in a really dangerous situation, dangerous as never before," he added.

Germany in the spring managed to avoid the high number of infections and grim death tolls seen in other large European nations and still continues to have a much lower overall fatality rate than countries such as Britain, France, or Spain.

But Germany's new cases per 100,000 residents over the past 14 days are now higher than in France, Belgium, and Spain, and about level with Britain, though still well below Italy, Sweden, and many others, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.

(IMAGE CREDITS: AP)