Giffey, who was sworn into office earlier this month, said it was important to strike a balance between keeping public life going and ensuring that the city’s health infrastructure is not overwhelmed.

“Our job as politicians is to react at very, very short notice to a situation that is changing,” the Social Democratic politician said after visiting an intensive care unit at Berlin’s Charité hospital.

“I still have the attitude that we are not yet – even after the conversation today – at the point for a lockdown,” Giffey said, but added, “If the situation gets worse, we have to react.”

Berlin is the capital of Germany and one of its 16 states. It, like several other states, imposed rules on Tuesday that cap the size of private gatherings, shutter clubs and close large sporting events to spectators in order to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.

“We will look very closely at what is needed beyond that in the coming days,” Giffey said, after meeting with staff at the city’s best-known hospital.

There have been worries that Omicron could cause critical staffing shortages in hospitals. But Heyo Kroemer, the chief executive of Charité, said the employee sickness rate was currently about the same as before the pandemic.