Angela Merkel warns Germans that the worst is yet to come -
C BALANCE SHEET / POOL / action pre / SIPA
The total number of deaths caused by the coronavirus in Germany crossed the threshold of 40,000 this Sunday, announced the Robert Koch (RKI) health watch institute, and Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the next few weeks will be "the phase la harder of the pandemic ”.
Germany has recorded 465 deaths from Covid-19 disease in the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 40,343, the institute said.
More than 1.9 million people have been infected so far, with nearly 17,000 new cases recorded since Saturday.
A second extremely violent wave in Germany
In her weekly video message this Saturday, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the full impact of the intensification of social contact during the Christmas and New Year periods was not yet showing in the statistics.
Germany, the most populous country in the European Union with some 83 million inhabitants, is struggling to contain the pandemic.
It was hit hard by the second wave of the virus after being relatively spared compared to many other European countries during the first phase.
Vaccination, reason for hope ... in a few months
The country has just extended and strengthened partial containment until January 31 and is urging citizens to further reduce their contacts.
More than 5,000 Covid-19 patients are currently in intensive care in Germany and more than 80% of the beds in the intensive care units are occupied.
Schools like most non-food stores, bars, restaurants, cultural, sports and leisure facilities are closed until the end of January.
Like other European countries, Germany began its vaccination campaign at the end of December, with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine administered to more than half a million people so far.
A second vaccine, that of the American laboratory Moderna, will soon be used after being authorized Wednesday in the EU.
Only 16% of Germans consider the measures too strict
Angela Merkel admitted that the vaccination campaign had taken a long time to start but "the tempo will accelerate", she assured.
“What is important is that we can say: we will have enough vaccines available for everyone in Germany,” she added.
"Month after month we are going to vaccinate more people and at the end of the day we will be able to offer the vaccine to anyone who wants it," the Chancellor continued.
The vaccines allow "a justified hope" that the world will be able to overcome the pandemic, she said.
But she asked her fellow citizens to remain patient, saying she "firmly believes" that the restrictions currently imposed on daily life are "absolutely necessary".
A poll carried out by Kantar for the Sunday weekly Bild am Sonntag shows that 56% of Germans agree with the latest measures adopted to combat the virus.
Among those polled, 25% believe that these measures do not go far enough and only 16% consider them too strict.
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