GERMANY is set to ban people who have not had their Covid jabs from shops, pubs and restaurants in what has been dubbed as a “lockdown for the unvaccinated”.
The draconian measures comes as Germany battles a record number of infections amid a fourth Covid wave, with intensive care units set to reach capacity by Christmas.
People in Germany who have shunned the Covid jab face being barred from going out to shops, pubs and restaurants[/caption]
The situation is so bad in Germany, patients are having to be flown to hospitals in other parts of the country[/caption]
Under emergency plans — the harshest yet to be imposed in Europe — there will be a blanket ban on entering bars, restaurants, theatres and cinemas for anyone who has not been vaccinated or recovered from Covid.
The unvaccinated would also be barred from Christmas markets and non-essential shops and only be able to socialise with a limited number of people.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the measures were necessary in light of concerns that hospitals could become overloaded with people suffering Covid-19 infections, which are more likely to be serious in those who haven’t been vaccinated.
She told reporters: “We have understood that the situation is very serious and that we want to take further measures in addition to those already taken.
“To do this, the fourth wave must be broken and this has not yet been achieved.”
Yesterday, Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz said he would like to see mandatory Covid vaccinations rolled out in Europe’s biggest country, beginning in “February or March”.
It comes after the discovery of a new, highly mutated, Omicron variant, first reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO) by South Africa on November 24, which has spread worldwide rapidly.
It is feared Omicron could cause over half of Europe’s Covid cases in the “next few months”.
More than two dozen countries and territories have now detected cases, extending to India on today and the United States yesterday, among the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic since it first emerged nearly two years ago.
The WHO has cautioned that it could take weeks to discover if Omicron is more transmissible, and whether it causes more severe disease — as well as how effective current treatments and vaccines are against it.
But its detection and spread represent a fresh challenge to global efforts to battle the pandemic with several nations already re-imposing restrictions many had hoped were a thing of the past.
People who have not been vaccinated are set to be banned from Germany’s iconic Christmas markets[/caption]
Compared to other European countries, Germany has had a low uptake in the Covid vaccination[/caption]
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