In Germany, the number of positive corona tests rises to over one million. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), 22,806 people have tested positive in the past 24 hours. This brings the total number to 1.006 million. Meanwhile, France wants to relax its strict restrictions in the corona crisis on Saturday. Plans include the reopening of stores, more time for walks and small-scale church services.
In Germany, the new deaths associated with corona reached a peak. 426 people died who tested positive. This brings the number of deaths in Germany to 15,586.
The loosening in France follows almost a month of strict initial restrictions. However, Prime Minister Jean Castex warned that it is too early to speak of an end to the lockdown. Leaving home is still only allowed in France for good reason – for example, to go to work or shopping. A certificate must be carried with them. Anyone who wants to go for a walk or do sports is now allowed to do so for three hours a day within a radius of 20 kilometers around the place of residence. Previously, the limit was one hour and a radius of one kilometer.
Under strict hygiene regulations, stores that are not considered essential for daily needs can reopen on Saturday. The economy had been demanding this for weeks. Each customer must then have eight square meters of sales space available. Libraries and archives can also be visited again. Trade fairs may be held with a maximum of 30 believers.
President Emmanuel Macron has announced the end of the exit restrictions for mid-December. If the Corona numbers continue to fall, a night-time curfew should be sufficient. According to the health authorities, France has already passed the peak of new infections in the second wave of corona. On Thursday, about 13 500 new infections were reported within 24 hours. At the beginning of November, there were sometimes well over 60,000 cases. In the country with 67 million inhabitants, more than 50,000 infected persons have died since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The number of corona deaths in Italy rose sharply again on Thursday. 827 people died on or with corona were reported. This means that 53,677 people have died in Italy with or due to corona virus since the beginning of the pandemic on February 20. The number of registered new infections fell from 29,003 to 28,352. 222,803 tests were carried out within 24 hours, 12.7 percent were positive.
In almost all Italian regions, the reproduction value dropped to around 1 in the past week. The Italian government is now examining whether measures can be relaxed in the first six regions that were declared a “red zone” at the beginning of November (Lombardy, Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily). The regions of Lombardy and Piedmont, in particular, are pressing for this, as they want to reopen their stores in the run-up to Christmas to boost consumption. Also the “red” region Toscana expects to become the orange zone with open stores from next Friday (December 4).
In the Czech Republic there is a dispute about possible loosening within the government. It was not clear until the very end whether all stores would be allowed to reopen on Monday for Christmas shopping as originally planned. A special meeting of the cabinet on Sunday should bring clarity. Head of government Andrej Babis put on the brakes: “The situation is still not good – the numbers are falling, but not as we had imagined.
At present, the second highest warning level is still in effect. Since the beginning of the pandemic, almost 7,800 corona infected people have died in the EU member state – more than in Sweden, which has a population of about the same size. The Czech Republic has almost 10.7 million inhabitants.
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