German lawmakers debate national COVID 'emergency brake' | DW News

europe is in the middle of an intense third wave in the coronavirus pandemic in france more than 100 000 people have now died from covet 19. meanwhile germany is seeing its largest rise in new infections since early january that is despite vaccinations picking up pace new national controls have been approved by the country's cabinet but they could take another week to pass through parliament doctors and health officials are pleading for immediate action on germany's intensive care wards this is what the third wave looks like more than 29 000 new covert 19 cases were reported on thursday the highest number since early january doctors are warning that in parts of the country only 10 percent of intensive care beds are unfilled the head of germany's public health institute is alarmed christ it is clear that we need to act now on all levels above all the decision makers need to take action we need to reduce our contacts now break the infection chain now and save lives in the health of many people but not all decision makers share that sense of urgency in particular some regional leaders have been reluctant to implement tough restrictions now chancellor merkel is introducing a change in the law to grant the central government temporary powers to enforce lockdowns in areas with high infections but even for the health minister this could be too little too late i already said a week ago that we needed extra measures and that we needed to take firm action time is not on our side and everyone already has the option to be taking measures they need not wait for the law to be finalized the new nationwide regime mandates school closures and contact restrictions when infection rates hit defined levels much of the public supports tough action but critics say the focus is too much on limiting personal freedoms for instance with the proposed introduction of nighttime curfews a lot of people of my age will just meet at home in secret curfews won't get this under control people will meet privately but i think we just need to shut things down for four weeks those who didn't follow the rules before won't listen to these new laws but those who did obey feel they're being treated like fools restrictions in some parts of germany have been light for much of the pandemic but as laws are tightened people here are having to face the fact that coronavirus not only costs lives it corrodes liberty as well well a debate over whether to grant the central government more powers for pandemic management is currently playing out in the german bundestag earlier chancellor angela merkel made her case to members of parliament if we've learned the lesson 13 months into the pandemic it's this the virus doesn't forgive any half-heartedness it only makes things worse the virus doesn't forgive hesitation it just makes everything last longer the virus doesn't accept any negotiations it understands only one language the language of determination our chief political correspondent melinda crane is following the debate at the bundestag for us hi melinda we saw chancellor merkel making her case there earlier are we going to see german lawmakers today finally take those steps that public health officials and doctors really are pleading for the chancellor gave quite a vehement defense of this draft law and the government had originally hoped for action this week but it's not going to happen here today in fact policymakers are now saying it will take at least another week until the law passes both chambers of parliament and even then some provisions including for example the curfew could wind up being challenged in court uh by members of the opposition so it will take a while it's not going to get here quickly enough to stop this third wave in its tracks we're more than one year into this pandemic melinda why is there still no clear consensus among germany's leaders on how to tackle it well as we heard in the report one reason is german federalism until now the country's infectious disease laws have put most of the responsibility for pandemic management in the hands of the federal states and because infection rates and conditions vary from region to region there has been quite a discrepancy in the way that different federal states have interpreted the rules and then there's very justified concern on the part of the policy makers and we've heard this in the debates here today about incursions on basic freedoms that are guaranteed in germany's uh constitution in particularly when it comes to rather drastic measures like a curfew so we heard the chancellor in her remarks talking about the need for proportionality between burdens and benefits but crafting a law crafting a curfew restrictions in order to ensure that kind of proportionality can become a matter that drifts into microregulation and hair splitting and we're also hearing some of that here today interestingly enough among the broader population there is pretty strong consensus on the need for tighter measures and even on the curfew and maybe we can take a quick look at the statistics they are even there we see a slim majority of germans and nearly all supporters of the governing parties and the mainstream opposition parties supporting uh a curfew with 46 percent uh nonetheless skeptical melinda just quickly we have seen a glimmer of hope this week with back to nations picking up pace will that be enough to break this third wave not for quite some time we're now just short of 18 percent of the population having been vaccinated for a first time but as you know herd immunity requires that a large majority of the population have been vaccinated and become immune and we're still a long way away from that our chief political correspondent melinda crane reporting from the bundestag for us thank you very much you

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Published: Fri Apr 16 2021