With much of the UK media focussing its energies on the Government’s latest Tier 2 and 3 restrictions, it’s easy to think that the country is alone in having to go through such harsh measures. But European countries are, in fact, converging in many ways, from facing the same challenges – to how leaders are reacting to them.
One country whose current situation is not too dissimilar to the UK’s is Germany. It has been better at controlling the virus in a number of respects, thanks to its high quality healthcare, localised response to outbreaks and ability to introduce testing early on in the crisis. Even so, it is not immune to the same problem that this country, France and others have experienced. That is, rising cases with the emergence of colder weather.
In fact, today Germany has seen a record daily increase in cases – reporting 6,638 new infections, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (the national agency responsible for disease control and prevention). It’s previous record daily increase was 6,294 on March 28. While it should be said that improvements in testing regimes will inevitably lead to more cases being detected (paradoxically making a country’s situation look worse), it’s the rapid uptick that has concerned its government.
What is the answer to this? As with UK politicians, German leaders have issued some strong words to the public, urging them to be sensible. “It is up to us to stop the infections”, Helge Braun, Merkel’s chief of staff, told one broadcaster, adding that the situation “depends on the population”.
Angela Merkel, the chancellor, has warned that there could be over 19,000 new infections per day if the trends continue, and taken strong action to prevent this, meeting with the leaders of Germany’s 16 federal states – who will soon reveal tougher restrictions to slow down the virus.
One of these will be compulsory mask-wearing in crowded spaces when an area reaches 35 per 100,000 cases in people in seven days. There have also been new curfews for bars and restaurants in hotspots for Covid-19, in addition to restrictions on how many people can gather in public and private settings. In Berlin, alcohol can no longer be sold between 11pm and 6am – a similar policy to the one enacted by Nicola Sturgeon recently, who has imposed a two week alcohol ban for pubs and restaurants.
Merkel especially focussed on young people, asking them to stop holding parties together – “in order to have a good life tomorrow or the day after.” In one of the most radical warnings, Markus Söder, the Bavarian state premier, even suggested that Germany could be close to another lockdown.
In better news, Jens Spahn, the health minister, has said that a vaccination drive for Germany was just months away; a far more optimistic assessment than Boris Johnson’s recent admission to Steve Baker, when quizzed in parliament, that “there is a good chance of a vaccine, but it cannot be taken for granted.” The plan in Germany so far is for it to be voluntary, and given to high-risk groups to start with.
Until then, it looks as though Germany will indefinitely face similar restrictions to the UK, and that of France (where Emmanuel Macron implemented 9pm curfews). As I wrote yesterday for ConservativeHome, there is a tendency to believe that countries are taking radically different approaches, particularly with Sweden – which has become more cautious in recent times. In fact, the evidence is that countries are increasingly unified in their strategies to deal with the pandemic.