Germany set to decide on post-Christmas COVID restrictions
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's leaders are set to decide on new restrictions to come in after Christmas aimed at slowing the spread of the new omicron variant of COVID-19, but plans so far fall short of a full lockdown.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany's 16 state governors plan to consult later Tuesday after the government's new panel of experts called for action to be taken within days and said that nationwide measures are needed, “in particular well-planned and well-communicated contact restrictions.”
On Tuesday, the national disease control center called on Twitter for “maximum contact restrictions” from now until mid-January, and for the “reduction of travel to the absolutely necessary.”
Officials have said that night clubs likely will be closed regardless of local infection rates, on which closures currently depend. There are likely to be further restrictions on crowds at major events, while new contact restrictions are expected to be introduced for vaccinated people — with gatherings reportedly to be capped at 10 people.
Restrictions already in place target mainly the unvaccinated, with proof of vaccination or recovery required to enter nonessential stores among other things.
Authorities have scrambled to speed up a booster campaign, with an average of around a million vaccine shots administered per day over the past week, the highest level of the pandemic so far. But they remain dissatisfied with the number of people who have been vaccinated in the first place — the proportion of the population that has received a full first round of vaccine stands at 70.4%, short of the minimum 75% the government aimed for. So far, 32.6% have received boosters.
Germany's infection rate is, for now, drifting downward slowly. On Tuesday, the disease control center recorded 306.4 new...
