As of next Wednesday, all essential shops, services and schools will be closed until January 10, and Christmas Day meetings will be reduced from 10 people to only five people from two different homes. This week, Merkel made a limited appeal to Germans ahead of the holidays in their social interactions: Despite the initial success in having the country’s reputable healthcare system and virus, the recent partial lockdown has failed to stem a second wave of uprisings. Germany recorded daily deaths on Friday, with 59-hour deaths rising within 24 hours. The new measures are aimed at traditional celebrations: Christmas church services will be pre-recorded without any song being allowed, alcohol will be banned from all public places and the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display will be canceled. Some states are also implementing additional measures, such as Bavaria, which will issue curfew orders until 9 p.m. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholes has promised financial assistance to all businesses affected by the lockdown. On Sunday, 20,200 new corona virus infections were reported in Germany – more than 2,000 last week than on Sunday – according to Robert Koch, the country’s agency for disease control. The overall infection number is 1,320,716. The death toll rose 321 to 21,787. During the week, the southwestern state of Baden-Wர்டrttemberg announced the introduction of a curfew – lasting from Saturday until January 10 – where only people will be allowed to leave the house for work and medical appointments, state Prime Minister Winfried Gretchman told a news conference. Meanwhile, in the northern state of Shelswick-Holstein, the maximum number of people allowed to meet in public and private places has been reduced from ten to five, according to state Prime Minister Daniel Gunder, two houses. At a cabinet meeting on Friday, it was announced that the federal state of Thuringia would close retail stories from December 19 and that students would switch to online learning from December 21 as part of the new restrictions, while German states announced earlier this week that they would move to austerity measures in Saxony and Bavaria. Nadine Schmidt and Zahid Mahmood contributed to the reporting. Amy Udat wrote from London. .
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