Germany registers record deaths as weeks-long lockdown begins

Berlin (dpa) – A record number of deaths was reported in Germany on Wednesday due to the coronavirus as the country entered a nationwide lockdown in a bid to break a sustained second wave of infections.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country’s national agency for disease control, said 952 people had died over a 24-hour period after catching the virus.

However, it also noted that the eastern state of Saxony – currently one of the country’s worst-hit regions in the pandemic – was delayed in passing on its data earlier in the week, which could in some part explain the surge in deaths.

Germany’s last record death toll in the pandemic was 598, reported last Friday.

The RKI also added another 27,728 new infections to the country’s total caseload so far.

Close to 1.4 million people are known to have caught the virus in Germany, over 23,400 of whom had died as of Wednesday.

Germany introduced sweeping closures and restrictions from Wednesday after a partial lockdown initiated in early November failed to reverse the rising trend in infections.

Under the tougher lockdown, the majority of shops have been forced to close until January 10 at the earliest, with only those deemed essential allowed to stay open. Schools are largely returning to remote learning.

An existing limit on group gatherings remains, with a maximum of five people from two households allowed to meet.

That rule is however to be relaxed from December 24-26 to allow close families to celebrate Christmas together.

Under the partial lockdown, restaurants and bars had closed but many adapted during the advent season to offer snacks and mulled wine to go.

While restaurants can still serve food for customers to take away and eat at home, alcohol has now been banned in public, putting an end to the popular makeshift mulled wine stalls.

The rules are particularly strict on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, when all gatherings are banned. The use of fireworks is also being heavily restricted, in part to lighten the load on hospitals, which are already filling up with Covid-19 patients.