Germany may limit gatherings to fight Covid-19 spread

Bloomberg

Germany may join other European nations in limiting the number of people at private and public gatherings in areas with high coronavirus infection rates, as officials across the continent labor to reverse a recent uptick in cases.
Chancellor Angela Merkel will recommend restricting private meetings to 25 people and public gatherings to 50 people when she holds talks with regional premiers via video conference, according to reports by Deutsche Presse-Agentur and other media.
The rules, which still need to be negotiated, would apply to areas with a seven-day incidence of at least 35 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, said the reports, which cited a
federal government briefing paper.
Across Europe authorities are taking steps to try to regain control over the disease, with mandatory face-mask policies being adopted in parts of Italy, Spain’s central government pushing for a lockdown of Madrid, and the Dutch government cracking down on
sporting events.
Tobias Hans, premier of the western state of Saarland and a member of Merkel’s CDU party, said that limits on gatherings, particularly for parties and weddings, are a sensible idea.
“It’s important that we act,” Hans, who will take part in the conference, said in an interview with ARD television. “This is not the time for parties with 300 people.”
Merkel warned that Germany could face more than 19,000 new Covid-19 cases a day by Christmas if the current trend isn’t halted. The country must act quickly to avoid the same rapid rise in infections experienced in European countries such as France and Spain, she told leaders of her party.
Since daily cases began ticking up around the start of August, Germany has relied on targeted local measures in the hardest-hit areas, aiming to avoid a repeat of the restrictions that hammered economic activity in the second quarter.
In Paris, gyms are shut as authorities attempt to curb social gatherings outside private homes. France’s seven-day rolling average of new infections breached 12,000 and the nation has recorded in excess of 500,000 confirmed cases and more than 30,000 deaths.
Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa has called on Madrid’s regional government to take tougher steps to rein in Covid-19 cases. While Illa wants regional authorities to lock down the entire capital, Madrid officials insist on taking a partial approach by restricting movement in areas with the highest infection rates.
In Italy, cases have been spreading at a slower pace than in neighbouring countries, but southern regions which were mostly shielded from the peak of the pandemic in the spring have seen an uptick in infections.
The recent rise in cases in Germany has mostly been blamed on weddings and other family gatherings. There were 2,292 new virus cases in the 24 hours through Tuesday morning, taking the total to 288,631, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Sicily has joined the Campania region around Naples in reinstating a mandatory face-mask policy, while four towns on the island of Sardinia have been placed in virtual lockdown.
The Dutch government announced that indoor gatherings will be limited to no more than 30 people, while shop owners in the three largest cities will be able to insist that customers wear a face mask. In addition fans won’t be allowed to attend sporting events.
Ireland will likely have restrictions in place for the next six to nine months, according to acting chief medical officer Ronan Glynn. The government has already imposed extra restrictions on two counties including Dublin.
The recent rise in cases in Germany has mostly been blamed on weddings and other family gatherings. There were 2,292 new virus cases in the 24 hours through Tuesday morning, taking the total to 288,631, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
That’s a long way from the almost 7000 cases reported at the height of the pandemic in late March, and the death rate has also been far lower than a few months ago, with the number of fatalities in the past 24 hours rising by four to 9,468.
According to the recommendations in the briefing paper for Tuesday’s talks, limits on gatherings could be tightened even further in places with a seven-day incidence of 50 per 100,000 inhabitants.