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Torfhaus / Winterberg (dpa) - After another rush over the weekend, numerous winter sports resorts in Germany have taken further measures to prevent large crowds of people on the slopes and hills.

Parking spaces have been closed with construction fences, entry bans for ski slopes and toboggan slopes have been prepared and roadblocks considered.

Some places want to close themselves off to a large extent.

In the low mountain ranges it should remain wintry for the week.

Warnings from the authorities and the police had hardly had any effect in the past few days: Despite the lockdown and the corona rules, crowds of people were drawn to the excursion destinations in the snow-covered mountain regions of Germany.

Lifts and slopes as well as restaurants and huts are closed.

Again and again there were reports of violations of the Corona measures such as mask requirements and contact restrictions.

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The Eifel community of Hellenthal in North Rhine-Westphalia blocked the access to parking spaces at the excursion destinations with construction fences on Monday.

Administration employees are on site to enforce the bans, said a city spokesman.

In Winterberg - also in North Rhine-Westphalia - it was initially quiet on Monday, as a city spokeswoman said.

Important access roads there were blocked on Sunday.

According to the police, the situation calmed down in the wintry Harz in Saxony-Anhalt at the beginning of the week.

In contrast, the parking spaces in Upper Harz in Lower Saxony were full again.

The mayor of the Thuringian winter sports resort Oberhof, Thomas Schulz, announced that he would largely cordon off the city shortly before the start of the biathlon World Cup at the end of the week.

"Only people who live or work here or who have a legitimate interest in coming here should have access," he said when asked.

In Willingen, Hesse, an entry ban for ski slopes and toboggan slopes is being prepared.

In the east of the Harz, the access roads to the Brocken could be closed on Wednesday due to the high number of visitors despite the corona rules.

That said Saxony-Anhalt's Interior Minister Michael Richter (CDU) on “MDR Aktuell”.

January 6th is a public holiday in the state.

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According to the German Weather Service (DWD), the weather will be cold and wet in the coming days and rather cool.

New snow can also fall in some regions, especially at higher altitudes.

In the low mountain ranges it remains wintry throughout.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210104-99-895211 / 3