As Germany's COVID tally crosses 1 million mark, Merkel warns restrictions till Jan likely

Germany’s “lockdown lite” was likely to continue until next year as Chancellor Angela Merkel opined that the country would have to live under restrictions “for foreseeable future”. German lawmakers, earlier this week, agreed on a new set of lockdown restrictions imposed till December 20. However, speaking to state controlled broadcaster later, Merkel hinted at the possibility of an extension in the lockdown.

“We will have to continue living with restrictions for the foreseeable future,” Merkel told the BDA employers’ association indicating that Germans might have to celebrate Christmas under new restrictions.

Fuelling the speculations further, Markel’s Chief of staff Helge Braun, speaking to RTL asserted that life would not immediately return to normal with start of the new year. Warning German citizens to practice caution, he asserted, “Difficult winter months lie ahead of us,” 

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New Rules

As per the new regulations, bars and restaurants would remain open only for takeaways while nurseries, schools and shops were allowed to remain open throughout. Starting December 1, private gatherings would be restricted to five adults, with the number rising to 10 during Christmas festivities. In addendum, people are asked to avoid social contact for a week before visiting family at Christmas.

Germany has recorded 1,017,830 cases and 15,640 fatalities till now, John Hopkins University revealed. Recently, a German advertorial related to the COVID-19 pandemic’s stay-at-home advisory amused the internet. Shared on Twitter by an EU citizen Axel Antoni, the nearly 2-minute public service announcement glorified the household couch potatoes, introverts, and the out stroll naysayers that mainly chose to stick around the television instead of fixing a plan with a group of friends. Calling the “lazy as raccoons” teenagers as “heroes”, narrator Anton Lehmann nails the humour in the German government’s advertisement. He encourages youth to embrace the sofa as a “weapon” and go into a siesta “as warriors” to help the country fight one of the deadliest crisis. 

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