COVID-19: German Health Minister urges states to tighten restrictions as cases surge

German Health Minister Jens Spahn has urged the country’s states to impose tougher restrictions in order to slow down the wave of the deadly coronavirus. This comes as the leading German economic institutes slashed their growth forecast for 2021 due to slow vaccination rollout and a more contagious variant of the coronavirus. According to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University, Germany has a total of 3,064,382 cases with over 79K fatalities. 

The German Federal Ministry of Health, on its official Twitter handle wrote, “Time is running out."@jensspahn has in the #Bundespressekonferenz about the planned #Corona -Emergency brake and the possibility for countries to act before the law comes into force”. In a tweet, Spahn urged the states to take the required action before the federal emergency comes into force. He wrote, “#Impfen and #Testen alone does not stop exponential growth. Decisive action and consistent measures are required for this. Hence my appeal today #BPK : The federal states shouldn't wait for the federal emergency brake to come into force”.

Current situation in Germany 

This comes after German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the government wants clear rules that include night time curfews imposed in all regions with high numbers of infections. “The uniform, nationwide emergency brake is overdue because even though it's difficult to hear this again, the situation is serious”, said Merkel, while speaking to the reporters. According to the reports by the Associated Press, Merkel warned that Germany remains "firmly in the grip of the third wave" of infections. "If we were to wait until all the intensive care beds were occupied, then it would be too late," she said.

Germany has experienced a difficult third wave of the pandemic as the infections have risen and more COVID-19 patients have been requiring intensive care. The vaccinations against the virus have lagged compared to the United States and the United Kingdom. However, the pace in Germany picked up over the last week. 

(Image Credits: AP/Unsplash)