With winter coming, Germany's corona cases start to spiral

The daily tally of new confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany leapt by almost half, official data showed on Thursday, a day after ministers agreed emergency measures to tamp down on domestic tourism to try to contain the second wave. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 4,058 to 310,144, a rate not seen since April, lending weight to officials' warnings that Germany is headed down the path of its neighbours if citizens don't adhere to rigid social distancing.

The daily tally of new confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany leapt by almost half, official data showed on Thursday, a day after ministers agreed emergency measures to tamp down on domestic tourism to try to contain the second wave.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 4,058 to 310,144, a rate not seen since April, lending weight to officials' warnings that Germany is headed down the path of its neighbours if citizens don't adhere to rigid social distancing. "The number of new infections has gone over 4,000," tweeted senior conservative legislator Norbert Roettgen, a candidate to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel. "It has almost doubled and is once again in the field of exponential growth... Everyone must do what they can to stop it from getting out of control again."

The reported death toll rose by 16 to 9,578, the tally by the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed. New cases have been spiralling elsewhere in Europe as the coming winter drives more people indoors, with cases soaring in neighbouring countries including Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

Germany's capital Berlin and financial hub Frankfurt have already imposed a curfew on evening entertainment. Most of Germany's states agreed on Wednesday that residents of domestic coronavirus risk areas should not be allowed to stay in hotels in other parts of the country to curb surging numbers of new infections.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)