Disease control chief: “All of Germany is one big outbreak”

Advertisement

Advertise with us

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has entered a “nationwide state of emergency” because of surging coronavirus infections, the head of the country's disease control agency said Friday.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/11/2021 (1737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has entered a “nationwide state of emergency” because of surging coronavirus infections, the head of the country’s disease control agency said Friday.

Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, said regular medical care cannot be guaranteed anymore in some parts of the country because hospitals and intensive care wards are overstretched.

The German air force confirmed a report by daily Bild that it was preparing to help transfer patients to clinics with free beds.

A woman walks up the stairs of a hospital in Frankfurt, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. The government announced that the hospitalization rate will decide about further restrictions to avoid the outspread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
A woman walks up the stairs of a hospital in Frankfurt, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. The government announced that the hospitalization rate will decide about further restrictions to avoid the outspread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

“All of Germany is one big outbreak,” Wieler told reporters in Berlin. “This is a nationwide state of emergency. We need to pull the emergency brake.”

He called for urgent additional measures to tackle the rise in COVID-19 cases, which topped 50,000 for the third day running. The Robert Koch Institute also reported 201 further deaths, taking the toll to 98,739 since the start of the outbreak.

Wieler’s comments came as the upper house of parliament on Friday approved new measures to control the outbreak proposed by the center-left alliance that emerged after the Sept. 26 national election. The measures, which come into force Wednesday, include requirements for people to prove they are vaccinated, recently recovered from COVID-19 or have tested negative for the virus in order to access shared workplaces or public transport. Employees will also have to work from home, whenever possible.

Separately, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed with the governors of Germany’s 16 states to introduce a new threshold linked to the number of hospital admissions of COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. Some states are also considering mandatory vaccinations for some professional groups such as medical staff and nursing home employees.

Neighboring Austria, which has also been hit by a surge in new cases, announced it would extend a nationwide lockdown to vaccinated people from Monday, and introduce compulsory vaccinations from February.

Jens Spahn, Executive Federal Minister of Health,left, and Lothar H. Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), arrive for the press conference on the Corona pandemic in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
Jens Spahn, Executive Federal Minister of Health,left, and Lothar H. Wieler, President of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), arrive for the press conference on the Corona pandemic in Berlin, Germany, Friday, Nov. 19, 2021. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

Such measures are not currently being discussed in Germany, where the outgoing Merkel government and the three-party alliance hoping to replace it are at odds over how to respond to the pandemic.

Germany’s current health minister, Jens Spahn, called Friday for a “national common effort” to respond to the rising case numbers.

“In the short term we won’t manage to break the wave (of infections) with vaccinations and booster shots alone,” he said at a joint news conference with Wieler, who called on Germans to help limit the spread of the virus by reducing their social contacts.

The southern state of Bavaria announced Friday that it is cancelling all Christmas markets this year, and closing bars and clubs for three weeks.

Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said regions with more than 1,000 new weekly cases per 100,000 inhabitants would face even tougher restrictions, including the closure of all restaurants, sports and cultural venues.

A man gets his booster vaccination at the Corona Vaccination Center at the Asklepios Klinikum Harburg, Germany, Friday, Nov.19, 2021. In view of the rapidly increasing Corona numbers, Hamburg also relies on booster vaccinations, the demand for the booster vaccinations is increasing. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)
A man gets his booster vaccination at the Corona Vaccination Center at the Asklepios Klinikum Harburg, Germany, Friday, Nov.19, 2021. In view of the rapidly increasing Corona numbers, Hamburg also relies on booster vaccinations, the demand for the booster vaccinations is increasing. (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP)

___

Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Zoo caring for orphaned polar bear cub

Tiago Resko 2 minute read Preview

Zoo caring for orphaned polar bear cub

Tiago Resko 2 minute read Yesterday at 1:57 PM CDT

The Assiniboine Park Zoo is caring for an orphaned polar bear cub that arrived from Churchill Thursday after conservation officers determined it was incapable of surviving on its own.

The officers found the bear’s dead mother.

Orphaned cubs have a high mortality rate, and a medical team was quickly sent to Churchill to support the cub’s initial needs, the zoo said in a media release.

The team arrived in Winnipeg late Thursday night.

Read
Yesterday at 1:57 PM CDT

Fatal stabbing of Ukrainian newcomer left family shattered

Erik Pindera 5 minute read Preview

Fatal stabbing of Ukrainian newcomer left family shattered

Erik Pindera 5 minute read Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026

A man who fatally stabbed a Ukrainian newcomer in “a random, unprovoked, and senseless act of violence” on the street has been sentenced to 10 years behind bars.

Ethan Gladu, 22, was found guilty of manslaughter in February in the December 20, 2023 killing of Ivan Rubanik, a 46-year-old father of two who had fled to Canada for a better life with his family several months before.

Gladu, then 19, randomly stabbed Rubanik shortly before 8 a.m., near Talbot Avenue and Watt Street, as the victim was walking to work that morning. He died of blood loss soon after.

“The people of Winnipeg, or any community, should feel confident that they can go about their business, walk to work, support their family, and carry on with their lives without being attacked,” said Court of King’s Bench Justice Kenneth Champagne on Thursday afternoon as he sentenced the killer.

Read
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026

Canada vows dollar-for-dollar tariff retaliation, suspends trade talks with U.S.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Preview

Canada vows dollar-for-dollar tariff retaliation, suspends trade talks with U.S.

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 7 minute read Updated: 8:27 AM CDT

OTTAWA - A last-ditch effort to reach a new trade deal before a midnight tariff deadline failed Friday, as Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended talks with the United States and summoned his negotiators back to Ottawa.

The decision meant new 50 per cent tariffs on billions of dollars in Canadian exports to the U.S. took effect at 12:01 a.m., and Carney vowed Canada would retaliate with equal measures of its own.

"In recent weeks, we made important progress toward improving Canada's position as having the best deal in the world with the U.S.," Carney said in a statement just before Trump's tariff deadline.

"However, that progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians."

Read
Updated: 8:27 AM CDT

Transit union pleads for full shields after near ‘hijacking situation’

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Preview

Transit union pleads for full shields after near ‘hijacking situation’

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026

The union representing Winnipeg Transit drivers says the need for full safety shields is critical after an operator was threatened with a hatchet early Thursday.

Read
Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026

ER wait times have hit all-time highs in Winnipeg and are impacting nearly all aspects of hospital operations

Tom Brodbeck 17 minute read Preview

ER wait times have hit all-time highs in Winnipeg and are impacting nearly all aspects of hospital operations

Tom Brodbeck 17 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

On most days at Health Sciences Centre’s adult emergency department, all 58 treatment beds are filled with sick patients. Another dozen or so brought in by ambulance line the hallways on stretchers, with only one nurse to look after them.

Out in the waiting room, about 30 or 40 people — sometimes more — are slouched in chairs in pain or discomfort, waiting hours to see a doctor. Most have been assessed by a triage nurse, but many will have to wait 10 to 20 hours to be examined by a physician because there’s no room for them in the treatment area.

Some patients leave because they can no longer tolerate the excruciating wait, only to return days later, sicker than they were before.

Welcome to the emergency department at Manitoba’s largest hospital, where some of the highest-acuity patients seek medical care but now face delays that were unimaginable a few years ago.

Read
Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

Roadside giants towering symbols of Canada’s quirkiness

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read Preview

Roadside giants towering symbols of Canada’s quirkiness

Jen Zoratti 4 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

Could you imagine a Canada without Mr. PG repping Prince George, B.C.? Or the Big Nickel in Sudbury? Or, my personal favourite, Happy Rock in Gladstone?

Earlier this summer, CBC’s Cost of Living looked at the economics of these giant roadside attractions — of which there are more than 1,500 in Canada — and the cost of keeping them.

Some are falling into disrepair — this is why public art funding is necessary, by the way, not just for construction, but maintenance — and some towns are weighing whether or not that money is better spent elsewhere.

The main character of the story: Tyra the Tyrannosaurus, the rather literal symbol of Drumheller, Alta., a.k.a. the Dinosaur Capital of the World since 2000, who could be facing extinction after the lease agreement between the town and the Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce ends in 2029.

Read
2:01 AM CDT