Germany: Merkel calls on measures to prevent the pandemic from erupting again


The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel He called on the Germans today to abide by the strictest restrictions imposed on areas with high rates of infection, stressing that these measures were necessary to stem the third wave of the pandemic.

Both parliaments this week approved the so-called “emergency brake”, an amendment to the Communicable Diseases Act that gives the federal government broader powers in dealing with the health crisis.

“It’s something new in our fight against the pandemic. “And I’m convinced he needed it urgently,” the chancellor said in her weekly podcast. “It serves the purpose, first to slow down the third wave of the pandemic, then to stop it and finally to reverse it,” he added.

Like many other European countries, Germany is struggling to contain the third wave of the pandemic, but efforts are being complicated by the more contagious B117 strain of the new coronavirus that first appeared in Britain and the relatively slow start of vaccinations.

If the number of infections decreases in the coming weeks, systematic tests will help allow for a controlled easing of restrictions, Merkel promised. “And our vaccination campaign is gaining momentum. It is the key to overcoming the pandemic. “I am convinced that if we can reduce infections now, significantly and quickly, we will be able to alleviate them step by step in the near future.”

“Let us now do what is necessary, again, and all together show respect and responsibility to each other,” he concluded.