Merkel: Germany hit by full force of Covid

Germany is in the grip of a “dramatic” fourth Covid wave, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said on the eve of a crisis meeting with regional leaders.

Daily infections hit a new German record of 52,826 on Wednesday as European governments responded to a surge on much of the continent.

Belgium announced a series of measures in an attempt to avoid a lockdown.

“All the alarm signals are red,” said Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, as he told people to limit personal contact.

“Europe’s map is quickly going red, and we are the same.”

Children in Belgium will have to wear masks from the age of 10, rather than the current age of 12. Working from home will become compulsory from Saturday for four days a week. Passes known as Covid Safe Tickets will be required in theatres, cinemas and museums.

A third booster vaccination will be rolled out for all Belgians by the end of April 2022.

“You who are unvaccinated cannot just carry on as normal;
your most important contribution is to get vaccinated.”

Austria which imposed a lockdown on an estimated two million unvaccinated people on Monday, reported record daily infections on Wednesday. The Netherlands, which also reported record cases, has already brought in a partial lockdown.

Sweden is introducing a Covid vaccination pass from 1 December for the first time for concerts and other indoor events involving more than 100 people. “You who are unvaccinated cannot just carry on as normal; your most important contribution is to get vaccinated,” said Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren, who accepted the measure was tough but said Sweden was not isolated from the rest of the world.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said anyone who had not been vaccinated (or could show they had had recovered from Covid-19) would be banned from accessing public events or services. From Monday, negative tests would no longer be enough.

Neighbouring Slovakia, where a record 8,342 cases were reported on Wednesday, is planning similar measures: workplaces and non-essential shops will be accessible only to vaccinated staff or to people who could prove they have recovered, says Prime Minister Eduard Heger.

Vaccination rates vary across the continent. Slovak take-up is among the lowest in the EU at 44% while the Czech rate is 58%, in Austria it is 65% and in Germany 68%.

Both Germany and Austria have reported queues at vaccination centres, but they have some of the lowest take-up rates in Western Europe.

  • GERMAN SURGE: Warning of 100,000 deaths

Austria also has a very high incidence rate of 971.5 cases per 100,000 people, far higher than Germany’s 319.5.

As well as its lockdown for the unvaccinated, some Austrian officials are calling for tighter restrictions for others too, such as a possible night-time curfew.

 

Austrian police officers check a man's identity and vaccination certificate during a control in Voesendorf, district Moedling, Austria, on November 16, 2021

Image source, Getty Images

Although Germany’s overall death toll is far lower than that in the UK, 294 deaths have been recorded in 24 hours and Mrs Merkel spoke of an emergency with intensive care beds filling up in hospitals. The UK reported another 201 deaths within 28 days of testing positive for Covid on Wednesday, and a further 38,263 infections.

Mrs Merkel called for a faster booster drive, adding: “It’s not too late to decide to get a first vaccination.”

Many German regions are now only allowing vaccinated people access to most services, including bars, cafes, hairdressers and gyms.

Politically the situation is complicated as the outgoing Merkel government is set to be replaced by a coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and pro-business liberals who aim to present planned Covid measures to parliament on Thursday.

France is being hit by a fifth wave of Covid, according to government spokesperson Gabriel Attal, with more than 20,000 new cases reported on Wednesday for the first time since Augusts. But there are no plans beyond the current Covid passport as “we are coping better than previously thanks to the vaccines and the health pass”.

He said France was light years away from the situation a year ago, and anyone aged 50-64 could now make an appointment for a third Covid vaccination.


data in detail

Scroll table to see more data

*Deaths per 100,000 people

New Cases

 

US 759,493 231.4 46,860,833
Brazil 611,283 289.6 21,957,967
India 463,655 33.9 34,447,536
Mexico 291,147 228.2 3,845,733
Russia 250,609 173.6 8,918,926
Peru 200,635 617.1 2,214,543
Indonesia 143,659 53.1 4,250,855
UK 142,898 213.8 9,561,099
Italy 132,775 220.2 4,860,061
Iran 128,167 154.6 6,037,718
Colombia 127,809 253.9 5,031,945
France 118,125 176.1 7,287,645
Argentina 116,232 258.6 5,305,742
Germany 97,720 117.5 5,056,243
South Africa 89,746 153.3 2,925,677
Spain 87,673 186.2 5,047,156
Ukraine 81,924 184.6 3,380,189
Poland 78,867 207.7 3,204,515
Turkey 73,531 88.1 8,410,136
Romania 53,069 274.2 1,742,304
Philippines 45,581 42.2 2,816,980
Chile 37,975 200.4 1,736,481
Ecuador 32,989 189.9 519,560
Hungary 31,867 326.2 939,784
Czech Republic 31,541 295.6 1,896,075
Malaysia 29,676 92.9 2,546,309
Canada 29,385 78.2 1,756,452
Pakistan 28,612 13.2 1,279,876
Bangladesh 27,922 17.1 1,572,501
Belgium 26,321 229.2 1,484,712
Bulgaria 26,279 376.7 655,647
Tunisia 25,311 216.4 715,687
Iraq 23,503 59.8 2,069,247
Vietnam 23,082 23.9 1,026,522
Thailand 20,081 28.8 2,024,753
Egypt 19,499 19.4 343,961
Bolivia 19,017 165.2 523,485
Myanmar 18,929 35.0 513,262
Netherlands 18,734 108.1 2,295,107
Japan 18,323 14.5 1,724,893
Portugal 18,257 177.8 1,107,488
Kazakhstan 17,461 94.3 1,038,719
Greece 16,766 156.5 831,874
Paraguay 16,278 231.1 461,624
Guatemala 15,714 94.6 610,004
Sweden 15,082 146.6 1,182,471
Morocco 14,743 40.4 948,226
Sri Lanka 13,995 64.2 551,343
Slovakia 13,537 248.2 560,100
Bosnia and Herzegovina 11,962 362.4 263,587
Austria 11,706 131.9 959,652
Nepal 11,477 40.1 816,966
Switzerland 11,327 132.1 909,038
Jordan 11,215 111.0 889,671
Georgia 11,057 297.2 785,911
Serbia 10,839 156.1 1,211,163
Honduras 10,352 106.2 376,967
Croatia 9,881 242.9 538,752
Saudi Arabia 8,813 25.7 549,222
Lebanon 8,582 125.2 652,735
Moldova 8,495 319.6 352,822
Cuba 8,282 73.1 958,738
Israel 8,143 89.9 1,337,493
Azerbaijan 7,445 74.3 560,853
Panama 7,343 172.9 474,621
North Macedonia 7,328 351.7 209,277
Afghanistan 7,293 19.2 156,552
Costa Rica 7,197 142.6 564,159
Armenia 7,055 238.5 329,341
Ethiopia 6,623 5.9 368,822
Lithuania 6,344 227.6 444,181
Uruguay 6,101 176.2 396,545
Algeria 5,984 13.9 207,970
Ireland 5,566 112.6 498,448
Kenya 5,316 10.1 254,297
Libya 5,296 78.1 364,675
Venezuela 5,026 17.6 419,745
Slovenia 4,941 236.6 378,142
China 4,849 0.3 110,773
Belarus 4,848 51.2 627,478
Palestinian Territories 4,743 101.2 456,632
Zimbabwe 4,696 32.1 133,428
Dominican Republic 4,170 38.8 395,856
Oman 4,113 82.7 304,429
Latvia 3,762 196.7 240,340
El Salvador 3,728 57.8 117,884
Zambia 3,666 20.5 209,983
Namibia 3,564 142.9 129,041
Uganda 3,238 7.3 126,923
South Korea 3,115 6.0 397,466
Sudan 3,099 7.2 41,093
Albania 2,990 104.8 193,075
Kosovo 2,980 166.1 160,948
Nigeria 2,968 1.5 213,147
Cambodia 2,872 17.4 119,588
Denmark 2,767 47.6 423,322
Kyrgyzstan 2,707 41.9 182,425
Syria 2,666 15.6 46,275
Kuwait 2,462 58.5 413,008
Botswana 2,411 104.7 193,701
Jamaica 2,327 78.9 90,209
Malawi 2,302 12.4 61,843
Montenegro 2,207 354.7 152,087
United Arab Emirates 2,143 21.9 740,945
Mozambique 1,936 6.4 151,427
Yemen 1,923 6.6 9,918
Mongolia 1,888 58.5 373,344
Australia 1,888 7.4 190,605
Senegal 1,881 11.5 73,954
Trinidad and Tobago 1,858 133.2 62,267
Cameroon 1,770 6.8 106,190
Angola 1,727 5.4 64,913
Estonia 1,673 126.1 212,096
Bahrain 1,393 84.9 277,223
Uzbekistan 1,358 4.0 189,915
Rwanda 1,338 10.6 100,136
Somalia 1,313 8.5 22,837
Eswatini 1,245 108.4 46,472
Finland 1,216 22.0 167,119
Ghana 1,206 4.0 130,649
Suriname 1,136 195.4 50,046
DR Congo 1,099 1.3 57,729
Madagascar 964 3.6 43,672
Guyana 959 122.5 36,817
Norway 950 17.8 228,526
Luxembourg 855 137.9 84,248
Taiwan 848 3.6 16,487
Guadeloupe 822 205.5 54,672
Mauritania 807 17.8 38,133
Tanzania 725 1.2 26,196
Haiti 708 6.3 24,543
Ivory Coast 702 2.7 61,511
Martinique 700 186.4 43,962
Fiji 679 76.3 52,397
Bahamas 665 170.7 22,572
Lesotho 661 31.1 21,691
French Polynesia 636 227.7 45,573
Qatar 611 21.6 241,089
Cyprus 587 49.0 127,036
Singapore 586 10.3 237,203
Mali 585 3.0 16,666
Belize 534 136.8 28,899
Malta 462 91.9 38,200
Papua New Guinea 436 5.0 32,953
Guinea 387 3.0 30,715
Réunion 376 42.3 55,865
Cape Verde 350 63.6 38,296
Gambia 341 14.5 9,980
French Guiana 318 109.3 45,306
Congo 309 5.7 18,153
Liberia 287 5.8 5,818
New Caledonia 272 94.5 11,573
Saint Lucia 269 147.2 12,835
Gabon 266 12.2 36,692
Maldives 247 46.5 89,840
Togo 243 3.0 26,158
Mauritius 240 19.0 18,979
Burkina Faso 234 1.2 15,281
Niger 232 1.0 6,692
Nicaragua 210 3.2 16,877
Grenada 200 178.6 5,863
Barbados 193 67.2 22,093
Djibouti 186 19.1 13,495
Mayotte 185 69.5 20,769
Curaçao 175 111.1 17,225
Chad 175 1.1 5,107
Aruba 172 161.8 16,083
Equatorial Guinea 168 12.4 13,485
Benin 161 1.4 24,833
Comoros 149 17.5 4,396
Guinea-Bissau 144 7.5 6,402
South Sudan 133 1.2 12,558
Andorra 130 168.5 15,819
Tajikistan 125 1.3 17,488
Seychelles 122 125.0 22,633
Timor-Leste 122 9.4 19,809
Sierra Leone 121 1.5 6,400
Antigua and Barbuda 107 110.2 4,118
Bermuda 106 165.8 5,708
Channel Islands 103 59.8 14,519
Central African Republic 101 2.1 11,666
Laos 99 1.4 54,192
Gibraltar 98 290.8 6,509
Brunei 96 22.2 14,215
San Marino 92 271.7 5,624
Sint Maarten 75 184.1 4,532
St Vincent and the Grenadines 71 64.2 5,270
Isle of Man 64 75.7 10,255
Liechtenstein 61 160.4 3,846
Saint Martin 56 147.4 3,975
Sao Tome and Principe 56 26.0 3,731
Eritrea 51 1.5 7,055
Burundi 38 0.3 20,221
British Virgin Islands 38 126.5 2,745
Monaco 36 92.4 3,478
Dominica 35 48.7 5,336
Iceland 34 9.4 15,321
New Zealand 34 0.7 8,866
Saint Kitts and Nevis 27 51.1 2,749
Turks and Caicos Islands 23 60.2 3,045
Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba 21 80.8 2,628
Diamond Princess cruise ship 13 712
Faroe Islands 8 16.4 2,939
Wallis and Futuna Islands 7 61.2 454
Saint Barthelemy 6 60.9 1,661
Anguilla 4 26.9 1,137
Bhutan 3 0.4 2,625
Cayman Islands 2 3.1 4,203
MS Zaandam cruise ship 2 9
Montserrat 1 20.0 41
Vanuatu 1 0.3 6
Greenland 0 0.0 990
Falkland Islands 0 0.0 79
Saint Pierre and Miquelon 0 0.0 32
Vatican 0 0.0 27
Solomon Islands 0 0.0 20
Palau 0 0.0 8
Marshall Islands 0 0.0 4
Saint Helena 0 0.0 4
Samoa 0 0.0 3
Kiribati 0 0.0 2
Micronesia 0 0.0 1
Cook Islands 0 0.0 1
Tonga 0 0.0 1

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This information is regularly updated but may not reflect the latest totals for each country.

** The past data for new cases is a three day rolling average. Due to revisions in the number of cases, an average cannot be calculated for this date.

Source: Johns Hopkins University and national public health agencies

Figures last updated: 15 November 2021, 09:40 GMT

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