More news from Germany, where the coronavirus situation is now so grave that a lockdown, including people who have been vaccinated, cannot be ruled out, the health minister has said, APA reports citing The Guardian.
It comes as neighbouring Austria said it would go back into full lockdown from Monday.
“We are now in a situation - even if this produces a news alert - where we can’t rule anything out,” Jens Spahn told a news conference. He said Germany was now in a “national emergency”.
Markets reeled on the prospect of a possible German lockdown, with bond yields turning negative, and the euro and stock markets falling sharply.
Austria will become the first country in western Europe to reimpose a full lockdown this autumn to tackle a new wave of infections, and will require its whole population to be vaccinated as of February.
Germany reported a further 52,970 coronavirus cases and 201 deaths on Friday, bringing total deaths to 98,739.
Earlier in the week, the outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel called the situation “dramatic”, saying the fourth wave was “hitting our country with full force”, while the head of Germany’s disease control agency, Lothar Wieler, said the country is heading for a “very bad Christmas season” if drastic measures are not taken to stem the spread of the virus.
On Thursday Merkel said that, in areas where hospitals are becoming dangerously full of patients with Covid, large parts of public life would be restricted to those who have either been vaccinated or have recovered from the illness.
Germany’s upper house of parliament is expected to pass the new coronavirus measures on Friday.
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