German Chancellor Angela Merkel takes off her face mask as she arrives for a family photo in front of the Staendehaus former parliament building prior to a North Rhine-Westphalian cabinet meeting on August 18, 2020 in Duesseldorf, western Germany. / AFP /
Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out any further loosening of virus measures, saying that a doubling in the number of daily cases in Germany in the last three weeks must be contained.
Europe’s largest economy recorded the highest number of new coronavirus cases in nearly four months on Tuesday, fueling fears about a resurgence of infections across the continent.
The recent trend "should not continue and we need to contain it,” Merkel said, adding that fines will need to be levied for people flaunting hygiene and social-distancing rules. "We are in the middle of the pandemic,” she said in Dusseldorf.
European officials are already tightening restrictions on movement again in an effort to prevent summer partying and travel from spreading the disease. Spain and Italy have shut nightclubs and Greece limited hours for bars and restaurants to try to avoid more drastic measures after the holiday season winds down.
"If we can stand by this, the good news is that there is a lot of public life that we can allow to happen,” Merkel said.
