Icon: enlarge
Guests in front of a bar in Berlin: After 11 p.m. this should no longer be possible from Saturday
Photo: ALEXANDER BECHER / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Due to the sharp increase in corona infections, a night curfew and stricter contact bans for inside and outside will soon apply in Berlin: Most shops as well as all restaurants and bars have to close from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The Senate decided.
Exceptions are planned for pharmacies or petrol stations, but the latter are no longer allowed to sell alcohol at night.
Only five people or people from two households are allowed to gather outdoors from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., as the Senate further decided.
Only a maximum of 10 instead of the previous 25 people are allowed to participate in private celebrations in closed rooms.
The measures are aimed primarily at private celebrations and illegal parties, which the Berlin authorities see as the drivers of the infection process.
The regulations should apply from Saturday - and are initially limited to October 31.
Only since last Saturday have new restrictions in place in Berlin, which the Senate decided the previous week: Private outdoor celebrations with more than 50 participants have been banned since then.
In closed rooms there is an upper limit of 25 participants.
A mask requirement in office buildings is also new.
Despite these resolutions, Berlin continued to come under pressure due to the rapid increase in the number of infections.
Several times, representatives of the federal government publicly called for the city to do more to combat the corona pandemic and to enforce the rules, most recently Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU).
Meanwhile, the Berlin traffic light system for assessing the Corona situation is showing the Senate the need for action for the first time.
The number of new infections in relation to the number of inhabitants in the past seven days and the number of reproductions are now above the limit values defined as critical.
That comes from the online status report of the health administration from Tuesday.
The traffic light is now double red.
In this case, the Senate had agreed that measures must be implemented.
Icon: The mirror
kfr / dpa
