BERLIN. “Unfortunately we have to say again: the situation is very serious. The third wave of the pandemic is king ». This was said by Angela Merkel this morning to the Bundestag, presenting the modification of the law on the pandemic which provides for the insertion at federal level of the “emergency brake”. Merkel underlined: «the data of the places occupied in intensive care say so». “We cannot leave the doctors and health assistants alone. They cannot win this battle alone. They need the support of the state, politics, society, us citizens, all of us ”.
The new measures, including the first curfew in the country, are contained within a reform that began its parliamentary process this morning preceded by the words of the chancellor. The bill seeks to limit the ability of federal states (Lander) to act in the fight against the virus and to impose homogeneous and uniform restrictions throughout the country. Restrictions that start automatically when 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants are reached in a seven-day period.
The other goal is to break the current deadlock in negotiations between the central government and the federal states, with some Lander refusing, for economic and social reasons, to increase the restrictions as proposed by Merkel. «The virus does not listen to half measures. He understands only one language: strength “, he stressed, adding that the coronavirus” does not negotiate “and that” any form of hesitation is useless “. Germany has recorded 25,831 new cases and 247 deaths in the last 24 hours.
“We must do everything possible to stop and break the third wave,” added Merkel, who considers the measures belated but necessary and justified, despite having consequences for the freedom of citizens. The Chancellor devoted part of her speech to the curfew, one of the most criticized and questioned measures. Shouts and whistles have been heard from the benches of the far right, which in recent months has continued to flirt with the positions expressed by the deniers. In its current formulation, it would be forbidden to leave the house between 21 and 5 in the morning in those regions that exceed the limits identified by the government. Among the measures proposed there are also the limitations of interpersonal contacts between cohabitants and people “outside” these nuclei and the closures of non-essential shops, including cultural activities, those related to leisure and catering.