Chancellor Angela Merkel: 'Restrictions serve to protect our citizens and vulnerable groups in particular'

Germany on Wednesday ordered a new round of shutdowns for the cultural and leisure as well as food and drink sectors, in a bid to halt a surge in new coronavirus infections.

The tough restrictions to come into force from Monday November 2 to the end of the month would limit contact outdoors to people from two households.

Deserted shops in the town of Eggenfelden, Bavaria

Schools, daycare centres and shops will remain open, but hotel stays will be allowed only for "necessary and expressedly non-tourism purposes".

Bars, cafes and restaurants must shut, although takeaways and delivery services can continue.

Professional sports, including Bundesliga football, have also been pushed back behind closed doors.

Theatres, operas and cinemas will also have to scrap their shows during what is traditionally their busiest season.

Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged that the measures are "strict and arduous" but she urged a "national effort".

At the the current rate of new infections, "we will reach the limits of the health system," she warned.

The number of new cases had doubled today from a week ago, while the number of people in intensive care has also doubled in the last 10 days, she noted.

"The curve must be flattened again... so that contact tracing can be once again carried out," she said, adding that in three out of four cases today, officials are no longer able to determine where the transmission occurred.

New daily record

Europe's biggest economy coped relatively well with the first coronavirus wave earlier in the year but numbers have risen rapidly in recent weeks, in step with the rest of the continent.

The tally of new daily cases now regularly crosses the 10,000 mark, and hit a new 24-hour record of 14,964 on Wednesday, according to data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control.

That is still well below figures seen in neighbouring France, where daily cases have topped 50,000, or Belgium where hospitals are reaching capacity.

But the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care in Germany has also surged, from just under 400 in early October to 1,570 by Wednesday.

Health Minister Jens Spahn, who is working from home after testing positive for the virus, said urgent action was required.

"If we wait until the intensive care beds are full, then it will be too late," he told regional broadcaster Suedwestrundfunk.

'We'll go bankrupt'

With a new shutdown to once again inflict the hardest blow to sectors which took the most painful hit in the spring, Merkel's government will offer 10 billion euros ($12 billion) in aid.

Merkel's government will offer the citizens it is locking down 10 billion euros of money that will ultimately need to be paid back via their taxes, how considerate.

The help targeted not only at businesses and associations but also thousands of self-employed people will reimburse up to 75 percent of comparable revenues a year ago.

But employees and bosses in the worst-hit industries marched on Wednesday in protest at new restrictions, while the federation of wholesalers and trade warned that shutting restaurants would sound the death knell for many small companies.

Pascal Reichsten, 23, who works at a bouncer, said he had been out of work for seven months.

"I do this job to pay my school fees. But I can no longer afford it because I have no more work," he said at the Berlin protest.

Cordula Weidenbach, 45, whose company rents furniture for exhibitions, meanwhile told AFP that the firm's revenues have almost completely collapsed.

"If it goes on like that, we'll go bankrupt."

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A second bout of laughter came when O'Donnell asked if Harris would bring a "socialist or progressive perspective" into Joe Biden's potential Democratic administration.

"No," Harris scoffed, adding that she would instead bring the perspective of a woman "who grew up a black child in America, who was also a prosecutor" and someone who "likes hip-hop."

O'Donnell then made a last-ditch attempt at getting a more substantive answer from the vice presidential candidate, asking Harris if she would push Biden to support 'Medicare for All', a mandatory universal healthcare plan that would replace private health insurance. Harris dodged the question, refusing to give a 'yes' or 'no' answer, instead saying she supports "expanding" on the current system.

The moment drew a slew of social media criticism from both sides of the US political divide.

Leftists said the segment was "infuriating" and slammed the senator for laughing at the idea of pushing for progressive policies. Some called her an opportunist for "not believing in much of anything" and "sprinting away from the real solutions" to the country's problems.

Conservatives, however, suggested that Harris' laughter showed she was lying when she said she would not push progressive policies. The laughter is her "tell," some argued. Another called the senator out for supposedly being a disingenuous politician who "will say or do anything for power".

Others countered that genuine socialists were not fans of Harris and her policies, a sign that she is more centrist than the Trump campaign and Republicans like to suggest.

Others ignored the political substance but picked up on Harris' tendency to laugh a lot during interviews. "Has anyone seen Kamala and the Joker in the same room together?" one commenter quipped.

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