Merkel pushing for a partial lockdown in Germany

Bloomberg

Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for a partial lockdown in Germany that would include closing restaurants and leisure facilities through the end of
November, as coronavirus infections continue to surge across Europe. Merkel is also urging citizens to keep private contacts to an absolute minimum, and to avoid all non-essential private travel, according to a draft federal government briefing paper obtained by Bloomberg.
She’ll discuss the proposals with regional premiers starting at 1 pm in Berlin in what is likely to be contentious meeting, with some state leaders already signaling opposition to the measures.
Like many of her European counterparts, the German leader’s hand has been forced by a spike in virus cases that has been gathering pace since the start of August, fueled by travelers and people failing to observe hygiene and distancing rules at social or family gatherings. French President Emmanuel Macron was also set to announce tighter restrictions on Wednesday. Merkel has pledged to do all she can to avoid imposing another lockdown as strict as the one that hammered Europe’s biggest economy in the second quarter.
The latest steps — which would take effect from November 4 — are designed to stem the spread of the disease while broadly allowing activity to continue. They’re likely to provoke protests from industry groups and from citizens already weary of what they see as government intrusion into their private lives.
Economists at Commerzbank estimated the measures will depress German output by almost 1% in the fourth quarter, leading to “at best stagnation,” with a “considerable risk” of a second recession. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank more than 2%, with auto and construction shares seeing the steepest declines. Haven assets, such as Treasuries and the yen, rose.
Some states may refuse to back all of Merkel’s proposals, and they have already prompted a vice president of the lower house of parliament to declare on national radio that he won’t follow the new rules.
“I urgently warn against alarmism, which can also lead to erroneous decisions,” Wolfgang Kubicki, a Bundestag vice president from the opposition Free Democrats, said on DLF.
The government briefing
document notes that effective contact tracing has become impossible in many parts of Germany, and that without further restrictions, exponential growth in the number of infections would overburden the health system within a few weeks and lead to a significant rise in serious cases and deaths.
Merkel’s government is also planning to extend and enhance assistance for sectors especially hard hit by the restrictions, such as hotels and restaurants. Aid for the self-employed and those working in the arts will be made available. “We’re in a very difficult situation, the infection numbers are exploding,” Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said. “It’s a threat to the health system and therefore to human life and that’s why policy makers must act.”
Germany’s new coronavirus cases rose on Wednesday by a record 14,964 to a total of 464,239, according to data from the RKI public health institute.