Germany’s Merkel announces new curbs on the unvaccinated

By AFP 18 November 2021, 7:54 pm

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses a press conference following a video meeting with the heads of government of Germany's federal states at the Chancellery in Berlin on November 18, 2021. (Michael Kappeler/Pool/AFP)

BERLIN — Germany will introduce tough new curbs that will exclude the unvaccinated from certain public events to contain a dramatic rise in coronavirus infections, German Chancellor Angela Merkel says today after crisis talks with regional leaders.

The so-called “2G” rule — allowing in only the vaccinated and the recovered — will be introduced in areas with a hospitalization rate of more than three COVID patients per 100,000 people, she says, and will apply to large events as well as culture and sports facilities.

“We need to quickly put a brake on the exponential rise” in cases and intensive care bed occupancy, she adds.