Germany tightens coronavirus curbs as cases surge

Bloomberg

Chancellor Angela Merkel extended Germany’s lockdown and tightened restrictions as pressure mounts on her government to contain the coronavirus spread and speed up vaccinations.
With hundreds dying each day, political tensions have been high and threaten to escalate further amid a rising tide of criticism over the government’s strategy to distribute a Covid-19 shot.
At an ill-tempered meeting, Merkel and state leaders agreed to controversial limits on movement, sharpened restrictions on private gatherings and prolonged hard lockdown measures until at least January 31. Authorities will meet on January 25 to discuss next steps.
“We urge all citizens to restrict contact to the bare minimum,” Merkel said after a virtual meeting with the heads of Germany’s 16 states. “We must get to a point where we can trace virus infections again.”
While officials disagreed over how to slow the spread, there was broad consensus that action was needed. Despite hard shutdown restrictions for weeks, contagion rates are still more than double the level the government has determined to be manageable.
With a national election looming in September, party politics is intruding on Germany’s efforts to stem the pandemic. Top officials from the Social Democrats — the junior partner in the ruling coalition — attacked Health Minister Jens Spahn, a leading figure in Merkel’s Christian Democrats, over apparent delays.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz — the SPD’s chancellor candidate — presented Spahn with a lengthy list of questions about why vaccinations aren’t happening faster, Bild newspaper reported.
The crisis is set to be discussed after a cabinet meeting, with Merkel, Spahn and other ministers looking at ways of accelerating inoculations.
“The behaviour of the SPD chancellor candidate shows that our coalition partners are already in campaign mode,” said Georg Nuesslein, a member of Merkel’s parliamentary bloc. “Considering the government’s current to-do list, that is of great concern.”
Merkel has been drawn into the controversy after Bild published a June letter from Spahn that indicated the German leader was behind the strategy to hand off vaccine procurement to the European Commission.