Tougher restrictions designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus will come into force in several German states on Tuesday where restrictions have not already been re-imposed amidst the fifth wave of infection affecting the country at present.
People living in the states of Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, North Rhine Westphalia, Saarland, Saxony, Schleswig Holstein and Thuringia will all face new contact restrictions. Similar measures are already in place in much of the rest of the country, as health authorities seek to prevent the spread of the new and more transmissible Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Federal and state leaders agreed to impose further restrictions by December 28, with the states individually responsible for implementing the new regulations. Officials are concerned about a further wave of Covid-19 infections in the new year, with fear growing about the new variant, which is now present in all of Germany‘s 16 states.
Even if the majority of infections are still caused by the Delta variant, the number of Omicron cases has increased significantly in recent weeks, according to Germany‘s national disease control body, the Robert Koch Institute.