Faced with a worrying increase in the number of new Covid-19 infections, the cities of Berlin and Frankfurt announced on Tuesday the introduction of a curfew and a restriction on social contacts.
In the German capital, most shops as well as all restaurants and bars will have to close from 11 pm to 6 am starting Saturday and at least until 31 October.
Exceptions are made for pharmacies and petrol stations, but the latter will no longer be allowed to sell alcohol at night.
Dirk Behrendt, in charge of the Justice portfolio for the city of Berlin, explained at a press conference that after three glasses of wine, there was “a little less respect” for social distancing.
The left-wing municipality has also decided to severely restrict social contacts.
From now on, between 11 pm and 6 am, outdoor gatherings must not exceed five people or people from two separate households. During the day, this rule remains fixed at 50 for the time being.
These restrictions are even more severe for indoor gatherings where, all day long, a maximum of 10 people will be able to gather, instead of the 25 that have been planned so far since last week.
These measures are mainly aimed at home parties and illegal parties, which the Berlin authorities consider to be propagating the new coronavirus.
In the German capital, the number of new infections in relation to the number of inhabitants over the last seven days and the reproduction rate are now above the limits defined as critical thresholds.
As regards the reproduction rate, this exceeded the critical threshold of one by reaching 1.26. This means that an infected person infects more than one other person.
The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants over the past seven days has now reached 44.2 in Berlin.
Earlier in the day, the municipality of Frankfurt had decided to introduce a curfew by Friday and for at least one week between 10 pm and 6 am for restaurants.
The consumption of alcohol in public places will also be banned.
In shopping malls and main shopping streets, masks will be compulsory.
Mayor Peter Feldmann described the measures as “drastic” but said they would “prevent closures, keep the economy going and get children into school”.
He said representatives of the ten biggest cities would meet on Friday to decide on a common approach to the fight against the pandemic.
Germany, which has never carried out a strict lockdown unlike several of its European neighbours, has been praised for its management of the crisis.
However, the country is now facing a slight resurgence of new Covid-19 infections which vary between 2,000 and 2,500 on average per day for a total of 9,546 officially recorded deaths since the beginning of the crisis.
