Germany: curfew at 11 p.m. in risk areas

Germany wants to react to the rapidly increasing numbers of corona infections with drastic measures. At a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) in Berlin, the prime ministers of the federal states agreed, among other things, on a curfew for gastronomy.

In cities and areas with sharply increasing corona numbers, there will generally be a curfew at 11 p.m. in the catering trade. This should apply from 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in one week. Bars and clubs would then be closed.

In regions with rapidly increasing numbers, private celebrations should in future be limited to a maximum of ten participants and two households. From an incidence of 35, i.e. 35 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, a supplementary mask requirement therefore applies where people come together closely and over a longer period of time.

Dispute over the ban on accommodation

Pubs, bars and clubs are considered risky from the point of view of infection, because many people are in a confined space here. Experience shows that distance rules are less often observed, especially when a lot of alcohol is drunk. The problem is especially now in the cold season because the hosts can no longer set up tables outside. The curfew would also affect many restaurants that have already drawn up careful security concepts and are actually applying them.

Several cities with high numbers of new corona infections have already imposed curfew. Since last weekend, restaurants, bars and pubs in Berlin have had to remain closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. There is also such a regulation in Bremen.

Up until the very end – when this edition went to press there was still no agreement – the prime ministers of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, Armin Laschet and Michael Kretschmer (both CDU), tried to overturn the so-called ban on accommodation. This stipulates that people who come from risk areas in Germany are only allowed to stay overnight if they can show a negative corona test.

Corona in Germany

• 5132 confirmed new infections within 24 hours were on Tuesday. For comparison: on average last week there were 2828 cases in 24 hours.
• 620 people are currently being treated in intensive care medicine, a week before that there were 450. But: a total of 9,000 intensive care beds are still available.
• A total of 334,585 infections have been detected so far, and 281,900 people have already recovered. And there were 9,677 deaths.