Germany has tightened its coronavirus restrictions in a bid to contain the pandemic as the number of cases continues to increase and the measures have been agreed by the German Federal Government and Executives in all 16 Federal States.
Capacity at events in public or rented premises is now limited to 50 in regions where there’s more than 35 weekly infections per 100,000 inhabitants and the maximum capacity at private meetings is restricted to 25.
Fines of at least 50 euros will be imposed on anyone who gives false ID information at bars and restaurants and face masks are now compulsory in offices in Berlin.
German Chancellor, Angela Merkel has defended the new measures saying "the aim is to contain the pandemic whilst maintaining economic and school activity as much as possible."
Germany confirmed 1,798 new cases of Covid-19 within 24 hours on Wednesday, one day after the stricter measures were introduced.
According to data from the Robert Koch Institute, or RKI, there have been around 2,000 new cases a day for the past two weeks, although the numbers for Saturday and Sunday are usually slightly lower because not all regional offices report their data to the central office.
1,192 new cases were reported on Monday and 1,410 on Sunday, but 2,507 were reported on Saturday which is the highest number since April 18 and there were 2,089 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday.
17 Covid-19 fatalities were also reported on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 9,488.
North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria have the most cases and Bremen and Berlin have the highest incidence in the last 7 days, with ratios of 26.5 and 27.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.