Nighttime curfew comes into effect across Germany

A nighttime curfew began in Duesseldorf on Saturday after the German parliament approved legislation mandating uniform restrictions in areas where the coronavirus is spreading too quickly.

The plan by German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, which automatically enforces measures in regions with more than 100 new cases a week per 100,000 inhabitants, passed its final legislative hurdle last Thursday as it was passed by parliament's upper house.

The legislation is intended to end the patchwork of restrictions that has often characterized the pandemic response across highly decentralized Germany's 16 states.

It calls for a 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew, limiting personal contacts, closing leisure and sports facilities and shutting or restricting access to many stores.

The upper house, where Germany's 16 state governments are represented, could have held up the plan by seeking renegotiations but let it pass.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier signed the legislation shortly afterward, clearing the way for it to take effect in the coming days.

Germany’s disease control agency on Friday reported 23,392 newly confirmed cases and 286 more deaths from COVID-19.

Since the start of the pandemic, Germany has recorded almost 3.3 million cases and 81,444 deaths.