Despite the dramatic Corona situation in Saxony, Dresden is sticking to the opening of the traditional Striezelmarkt next Monday.
"We take the pandemic very seriously and have devised and built a market with a lot of effort that, despite mandatory restrictions, still gives visitors and retailers typical Striezelmarkt flair," said Robert Franke, head of the Dresden Office for Economic Development, on Thursday.
The Striezelmarkt is one of the oldest Christmas markets in the world - and was canceled last year due to the Corona events.
The concept for this year's Striezelmarkt provides, among other things, a spatial equalization of the market.
In addition, the number of stands has been reduced by 20 percent, said Franke.
There will be no indoor offers such as the Christmas bakery or the Wichtelkino.
Will it stay that way?
The decisive factor is now the specification of the next general decree of the state with regard to the Christmas markets. On Friday, the state government wants to pass a new Corona Protection Ordinance, which would apply from Monday to December 20. According to this, Christmas markets can take place, but must introduce the 2-G rule in the so-called lingering area - where people eat and drink. The future traffic light coalition in the federal government had also explicitly mentioned the possibility of banning Christmas markets in their new nationwide corona rules decided on Thursday.
However, it was unclear whether these rules would be refined.
Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) spoke of a “hard and clear breakwater” for two or three weeks in a government declaration in the state parliament.
On Thursday, the seven-day incidence - the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days - in Dresden, according to the Ministry of Social Affairs, was 530.4.
Compared to the previous day, there were 636 new corona infections.