Merkel: Germany could lose control of virus without tougher action

Berlin (dpa) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Friday that the country could lose control of the coronavirus pandemic if regions with rising infection rates do not toughen measures, as the national disease control agency reported more than 4,500 new cases.

Following a video call with the mayors of Germany’s 11 biggest cities amid soaring cases in some urban centres, Merkel warned of an exponential spread if health authorities are no longer able to keep up with tracking chains of infection.

“As soon as this happens, the virus spreads in an uncontrolled way and uncontrollably,” she told reporters in Berlin.

The chancellor welcomed the reintroduction of restrictions in some cities and praised Munich for having already shown that outbreaks can be brought under control with mask rules and limits on socializing.

“The infection numbers might be rising, but we are anything but powerless,” she added.

Her comments came after the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 4,516 new infections over a one-day period, bringing Germany’s total caseload to 314,660.

The country has not recorded such a high number of daily cases since the height of the pandemic in late March and early April.

The death toll increased by 11 compared to Thursday, with 9,589 people having succumbed to the virus so far.

Merkel and the 11 mayors agreed to a framework that would allow experts from the Bundeswehr armed forces and the RKI to be sent into cities if infections surpass 35 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period.

Berlin and Frankfurt are currently reporting over 50 cases per 100,000 residents over a week, officially making them high-risk areas in the country and prompting several other states to impose travel restrictions on people from those areas – ahead of the two-week autumn break.

Cities that break the 50 mark are to introduce tougher measures under the new agreement, such as broader mask rules for public spaces and limits on alcohol sales and socializing. And if the rise in infections is not halted within 10 days, the mayors have agreed to implement even tougher, unspecified measures in their cities.

The mayor of Cologne, which is hovering just below 50 infections per 100,000 residents over a one-week period, announced new restrictions coming into effect on Saturday.

Masks have been made mandatory in pedestrian areas in the western city, and gatherings outdoors are to be limited to five people. Consuming alcohol in public will be banned from 10 pm, and alcohol sales will be banned completely at the weekend in areas considered high-risk.

The upwards trend in Berlin already prompted the city government to call time on the German capital’s famous nightlife, with new measures coming into effect at midnight.

Bars, restaurants and the popular “Spaeti” off-licence shops are to stop selling alcohol from 11 pm, and groups meeting outdoors at night will be limited to five people or two households. The measures are initially to stay in place until the end of the month.

Earlier Friday, Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller criticized the travel restrictions slapped on Berliners by other state governments.

He decried the measures 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.

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.

On Friday, Germany’s upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, approved 3 billion euros (3.5 billion dollars) in funding for hospitals, as well as 100 million euros for facilities treating coronavirus patients. This is to go towards bonuses for health workers.