Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Haseloff: "A few are enough to push a society to its limits"

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Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Haseloff in the State Chancellery in Magdeburg

Photo: Harald Krieg / DER SPIEGEL

SPIEGEL:

Mr. Haseloff, two weeks ago you said that the state was at the end of its capabilities if the number of infections does not drop significantly by February.

How did you mean that?

Haseloff:

By definition, the state is never at an end, that has been portrayed somewhat briefly.

What it was about: There are a manageable number of instruments with which we can fight the pandemic.

And in principle we will soon have pulled out all the stops.

SPIEGEL:

You and the other prime ministers and the chancellor did not impose a strict lockdown on Tuesday.

Experts and the Federal Chancellery wanted significantly tougher measures.

Haseloff:

We could still impose curfews and shut down the factories.

Then production comes to a standstill in the automotive or mechanical engineering industries.

But do we want that - and would we sustainably suppress the infection rate?

We live in an open Europe.

We can't just disengage like New Zealand.

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