German chancellor Angela Merkel called Wednesday for Germans to endure the toughest restrictions yet to curb the worsening COVID-19 crisis as daily deaths hit a new high.
The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's public disease health authority, said record national daily deaths were 590 people Tuesday. This brought deaths since the start of the pandemic to 19,932 with more than 1.2 million infections, the world's 11th highest.
The second wave has seen a rise in daily new infections to more than three times that of the spring peak.
Germany also has the seventh most fatalities in Europe. Germany recorded 150 deaths Sunday. The country saw 445 deaths Monday.
"Five hundred deaths a day is unacceptable," Merkel said at Germany's parliament during the debate on the government's 2021 budget.
"The most important key to us successfully fighting the virus is the responsible behavior of every individual and the willingness to cooperate."
Merkel supported recommendations by Leopoldina, Germany's National Academy of Science, for a hard lockdown issued Tuesday.
Leopoldina demanded an end to required school attendance starting Dec. 14, extending the Christmas school break, closing of all but essential businesses starting Dec. 24 and working from home.
Merkel, who will not stand for reelection in September, opposed opening hotels so families can gather over the Christmas and new year's holidays. She agreed with recommendations from public health experts to close shops after Christmas until Jan. 10.
"When mulled wine stands are being built, when waffle stands are being built, that's not compatible with what we had agreed of only takeaways for food and drinks," she told MPs. "I am really sorry...but if we're paying the price of death tolls at 590 people daily then that's, in my view, not acceptable."
Merkel said people can't pick and choose if and when to accept the science. "Because the numbers are what they are, we must do something about them," she said. Merkel said Germans had a responsibility to significantly reduce social contact during the approaching holiday season.
"If we have too many contacts before Christmas and it ends up being the last Christmas with the grandparents, then we'd really have failed," she said.
Merkel's government said infection numbers must fall to 50 per 100,000 people but the rate is now 149 per 100,000.
