Germany Imposes 4-Week Lockdown From Monday; Restaurants, Bars, Theatres Closed Till November-End
Most non-essential businesses would be impacted, as the government has ordered mandatory work from home for the 28-day period ending on November 30. Essential service providers would be allowed to commute, and shops selling essential items would be permitted to remain open in a regulated manner.
Berlin, October 28: Stringent curbs were announced by Germany as the country would enter a four-week lockdown beginning from Monday, November 2. The shutdown will come into effect to curb the transmission of coronavirus, as almost the whole of Europe has been gripped under the second wave of pandemic. COVID-19 Second Wave: Spain First Country in Europe to Cross 1 Million Virus Cases.
As part of the restrictions announced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, restaurants, bars, theatres, pubs and other leisure facilities would remain closed throughout the four-week period, that will conclude in the end of November.
Second Nationwide Lockdown in Germany
Most non-essential businesses would be impacted, as the government has ordered mandatory work from home for the 28-day period ending on November 30. Essential service providers would be allowed to commute, and shops selling essential items would be permitted to remain open in a regulated manner.
The crippling restrictions were unveiled by the Merkel regime amid a massive surge in the number of daily infections. As per the last update issued on Tuesday, over 11,400 new infections were recorded in a 24-hour period by the German Health Ministry.
The cases have been surging in Germany since the onset of winter, with three-fourth of ICU beds in the hospitals stated to be full. Along with Germany, neighbouring France is also severely affected, with more than 50,000 cases being recorded in a day in the nation -- which is the highest so far since the pandemic began.
According to Worldometers tracker, Germany has recorded more than 476,000 COVID-19 cases so far, whereas, the tally in France has crossed 1.1 million. Authorities in Europe are scrambling to prevent a scenario akin to March-April, when the continent emerged as the global hotspot of the disease.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 28, 2020 11:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).