Berlin mayor warns of stricter measures as alarm sounded over virus

Berlin (dpa) – Berlin mayor Michael Mueller is keeping all options on the table as high coronavirus infection rates in the capital prompt concern across Germany, which recorded more than 4,500 new cases on Friday.

On Thursday, the city’s infections spilled over into an officially recognized danger zone, with more than 50 cases recorded per 100,000 people over a seven-day period.

As Berlin crept towards that high-risk status, the city government introduced a night-time curfew banning alcohol and brought back limits on group socializing, in a bid to bring the spread under control.

Decisions on further restrictions are to take into account a number of factors, unlike the sweeping restrictions introduced across Germany at the start of the crisis in March, Mueller told reporters.

Testing procedures and capacity will be considered “in the assessment of whether or not a very drastic measure is really needed,” Mueller said, adding that time will tell whether the new restrictions – coming into force from Saturday – have an effect.

The capital is to call time on its famous nightlife, with bars, restaurants and the popular “Spaeti” off-licence shops to stop selling alcohol from 11 pm and groups meeting outdoors at night limited to five people or two households.

In addition, the limit for private gatherings at any time will be reduced from 25 to 10 people.

The measures are initially to stay in place until the end of the month.

The surge in cases in Berlin has prompted most of Germany’s 15 other federal states to introduce travel restrictions on people from the capital, ahead of two-week school holidays starting on Monday.

Mueller criticized those restrictions as uncoordinated and argued that they risk overwhelming the city’s testing facilities, as some of the rules can be circumvented if people obtain a negative test result in the days before travelling.

This could tie up “an insane amount of human resources and test capacities,” Mueller argued.

The mayor again urged Berliners to consider whether now is really the right time to travel to other parts of the country.

Mueller also lamented short-staffing at city health authorities. The funding is there for 200 job vacancies “but we cannot fill them as quickly as we’d like to,” he said.

Mueller also suggested measures for Berlin schools that could curb infections, such as breaks for circulating air in classrooms and a shift system for pupils, dividing them into morning and afternoon groups.

“I suspect something like this will be necessary in the winter months,” he added.

Across Germany, 4,516 new infections were reported over a one-day period, the national disease control body said on Friday. The total caseload now stands at 314,660, and 9,589 have died after catching the virus, according to the Robert Koch Institute.

The country has not recorded such a high number of daily cases since the height of the pandemic in late March and early April, when Germany was counting more than 6,000 new cases per day before they fell off markedly. Infections began trending upwards again in July.

Infection rates have been rising in urban centres and Frankfurt has also emerged as a hotspot, alongside Berlin.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel plans to hold a conference call later Friday with the mayors of 11 of Germany’s largest cities: Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart.

On Friday, Germany’s upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, approved 3 billion euros in funding for hospitals, as well as 100 million euros for facilities treating coronavirus patients. This is to go towards bonuses for health workers.