Coronavirus: Germany restricts social life in 'lockdown light'

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image captionThe new rules are another big blow to Germany's hospitality industry

Germany has entered the first day of a month-long "lockdown light", shutting restaurants, bars, gyms and entertainment venues, but keeping schools, shops and workplaces open.

The lockdown is not as restrictive as the March-April one, and food outlets can still provide takeaways.

The coronavirus infection rate is still rising in Germany, though not as dramatically as in France and Belgium, which are now in tighter lockdowns.

Italy is also planning tighter rules.

Under Germany's new national measures, public meetings are restricted to 10 people maximum from two households. Private parties are banned.

There is some regional variation, as German states have a large degree of autonomy in public health. Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Berlin, for example, are exempting children under 12 from the two-households rule.

The latest official data from Germany's respected Robert Koch Institute (RKI) shows 12,097 new infections in the past 24 hours, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 545,027 in Germany.

The totals for France, Spain and the UK - all with smaller populations than Germany - are all above a million.

On Saturday however, Germany recorded its highest daily total so far, with 19,059 cases.

Germany's central government is helping small businesses with 50 or fewer staff, and the self-employed, who are hit especially hard by the lockdown: they can get a grant covering 75% of their normal turnover. The state is providing up to €10bn (£9bn) to cover this lockdown hardship, including some funding from the EU.

Under France's more restrictive lockdown, people are only allowed to leave home to do the following: essential shopping; attend to medical needs; go to work if they really cannot work from home; go to school; or exercise outdoors for an hour maximum. For those activities, they have to carry a downloadable permit.

Shops in France are now only allowed to sell essential goods.

What about the rest of Europe?

Italy is accelerating preparations for a further tightening of restrictions, but there is resistance to imposing a national lockdown, because of the struggling economy. Cinemas, swimming pools, theatres and gyms are closed, and food outlets have to stop table service by 18:00.

In Spain, staff at funeral homes went on strike on Sunday to demand more workers as coronavirus deaths continue to rise. It was All Saints' Day, when families usually visit the graves of loved ones.

In Montenegro, thousands of people attended the funeral of the country's leading religious figure, Archbishop Amfilohije Radovic, who died with coronavirus on Friday, aged 82.

Despite pleas from doctors to ban the funeral, his open coffin was paraded in front of crowds at the Serbian Orthodox cathedral in the capital, Podgorica. Some mourners even touched or kissed his head or hands.

image copyrightEPA
image captionMore than 2.58 million people in Slovakia have been tested

Slovakia has tested about half of its population after announcing a plan to test everyone in the country over 10 years old.

Infections have soared in Slovakia, and officials argue the only alternative would be a total lockdown.

Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad confirmed that 2.58 million people took the test on Saturday. Of those, 25,850 have tested positive and must self-isolate.

Portugal is holding a day of national mourning for its Covid-19 victims: 2,544 have died there since the pandemic began in March. As elsewhere in Europe, the infection rate is rising, so a partial lockdown will take effect on Wednesday, covering 70% of the population, including Lisbon and Porto.

data in detail

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*Deaths per 100,000 people

US 228,788 69.9 8,976,059
Brazil 159,477 76.1 5,516,658
India 121,641 9.0 8,137,119
Mexico 91,289 72.3 918,811
UK 46,229 68.9 989,745
Italy 38,321 63.2 647,674
France 36,020 55.4 1,282,769
Spain 35,878 76.8 1,185,678
Iran 34,478 42.1 604,952
Peru 34,362 107.4 897,594
Colombia 31,421 63.3 1,053,122
Argentina 30,792 69.4 1,157,179
Russia 27,787 19.1 1,606,267
South Africa 19,230 33.3 723,682
Chile 14,158 75.6 508,571
Indonesia 13,869 5.2 410,088
Ecuador 12,632 73.9 167,147
Belgium 11,452 99.7 412,314
Iraq 10,862 28.3 470,633
Germany 10,462 12.6 527,916
Turkey 10,177 12.4 373,154
Canada 10,163 27.4 234,939
Bolivia 8,715 76.8 141,631
Ukraine 7,399 16.7 399,330
Netherlands 7,348 43.1 341,527
Philippines 7,221 6.8 380,729
Romania 6,867 35.2 235,586
Pakistan 6,806 3.2 332,993
Egypt 6,258 6.4 107,376
Sweden 5,938 59.5 124,355
Bangladesh 5,905 3.7 406,364
Saudi Arabia 5,383 16.0 346,880
Poland 5,351 14.1 340,834
China 4,739 0.3 91,339
Guatemala 3,714 21.5 107,339
Morocco 3,625 10.1 215,294
Czech Republic 3,078 28.9 323,673
Panama 2,688 64.4 132,867
Honduras 2,669 27.8 96,888
Israel 2,514 30.0 313,701
Portugal 2,468 24.1 137,272
Switzerland 2,277 26.7 154,251
Dominican Republic 2,236 21.0 126,332
Algeria 1,956 4.6 57,651
Ireland 1,908 39.6 61,059
Kazakhstan 1,825 10.0 111,953
Moldova 1,766 43.6 75,201
Japan 1,759 1.4 100,805
Hungary 1,699 17.5 71,413
Afghanistan 1,536 4.1 41,425
Ethiopia 1,464 1.3 95,789
Paraguay 1,387 19.9 62,596
Costa Rica 1,371 27.4 108,866
Armenia 1,341 45.4 89,813
Tunisia 1,317 11.4 59,813
Bulgaria 1,254 17.8 51,041
Myanmar 1,219 2.3 51,496
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1,212 36.5 48,137
Oman 1,208 25.0 114,434
Nigeria 1,144 0.6 62,691
Kyrgyzstan 1,142 18.1 58,394
Austria 1,082 12.2 99,576
North Macedonia 982 47.1 30,488
Kenya 981 1.9 53,797
Belarus 977 10.3 97,499
El Salvador 971 15.1 33,445
Nepal 920 3.3 168,235
Australia 907 3.6 27,590
Libya 847 12.7 60,628
Sudan 837 2.0 13,804
Serbia 814 11.7 45,137
Venezuela 793 2.7 91,589
Kuwait 773 18.7 125,337
Jordan 772 7.7 69,306
Denmark 719 12.5 45,225
Azerbaijan 718 7.2 54,174
Kosovo 678 36.7 19,328
Lebanon 625 9.1 79,529
Greece 620 5.9 37,196
Yemen 599 2.1 2,062
Uzbekistan 563 1.7 66,628
Croatia 531 12.8 46,547
Albania 502 17.4 20,634
United Arab Emirates 490 5.1 131,508
Palestinian Territories 481 9.9 53,075
South Korea 464 0.9 26,511
Cameroon 426 1.7 21,793
Finland 358 6.5 15,910
Zambia 349 2.0 16,415
Senegal 323 2.0 15,605
Ghana 320 1.1 48,055
Bahrain 319 20.3 81,466
Slovenia 315 15.2 32,503
Georgia 307 7.7 38,936
DR Congo 307 0.4 11,306
Montenegro 294 46.8 18,066
Syria 285 1.7 5,683
Norway 282 5.3 20,062
Angola 279 0.9 10,558
Malaysia 249 0.8 30,889
Madagascar 244 0.9 16,968
Zimbabwe 242 1.7 8,362
Qatar 232 8.3 132,343
Haiti 232 2.1 9,057
Slovakia 219 4.0 57,664
Jamaica 205 7.0 9,005
Malawi 184 1.0 5,923
Mauritania 163 3.7 7,700
Lithuania 157 5.6 13,823
Nicaragua 156 2.4 5,514
Luxembourg 152 25.2 17,134
Bahamas 142 36.8 6,644
Mali 136 0.7 3,545
Namibia 133 5.4 12,907
Cuba 128 1.1 6,801
Guadeloupe 126 31.5 7,605
Ivory Coast 124 0.5 20,692
Guyana 124 15.9 4,143
Gambia 119 5.2 3,670
Eswatini 117 10.3 5,909
Suriname 111 19.3 5,201
Uganda 110 0.3 12,410
Trinidad and Tobago 107 7.7 5,668
Somalia 104 0.7 3,941
Chad 98 0.6 1,483
Cape Verde 95 17.5 8,694
Congo 92 1.8 5,290
Mozambique 91 0.3 12,777
Equatorial Guinea 83 6.3 5,083
Tajikistan 82 0.9 10,977
Liberia 82 1.7 1,426
Andorra 75 97.4 4,665
Sierra Leone 74 1.0 2,365
Estonia 73 5.5 4,771
Guinea 72 0.6 12,072
French Guiana 70 24.7 10,517
Latvia 69 3.6 5,679
Niger 69 0.3 1,220
Burkina Faso 67 0.3 2,477
Central African Republic 62 1.3 4,866
Malta 61 13.9 5,942
Djibouti 61 6.4 5,559
Thailand 59 0.1 3,780
Belize 58 15.1 3,462
Uruguay 58 1.7 3,082
South Sudan 58 0.5 2,903
Gabon 55 2.6 8,968
Togo 55 0.7 2,312
Channel Islands 48 28.2 841
Mayotte 44 17.0 4,366
Lesotho 44 2.1 1,953
San Marino 42 124.3 928
Benin 41 0.4 2,643
Guinea-Bissau 41 2.2 2,403
Maldives 37 7.2 11,643
Aruba 37 35.0 4,494
Rwanda 35 0.3 5,134
Vietnam 35 0.0 1,177
Martinique 30 8.0 3,552
French Polynesia 29 10.4 7,262
Singapore 28 0.5 58,015
Cyprus 25 2.1 4,217
New Zealand 25 0.5 1,957
Botswana 24 1.1 6,642
Réunion 24 2.7 5,659
Isle of Man 24 28.5 353
Saint Martin 22 59.0 822
Tanzania 21 0.0 509
Sri Lanka 20 0.1 10,424
Sao Tome and Principe 16 7.6 945
Diamond Princess cruise ship 13 712
Iceland 12 3.6 4,797
Mauritius 10 0.8 441
Bermuda 9 14.3 199
Papua New Guinea 7 0.1 589
Taiwan 7 0.0 554
Comoros 7 0.8 537
Barbados 7 2.4 236
Turks and Caicos Islands 6 15.9 703
Brunei 3 0.7 148
Antigua and Barbuda 3 3.1 127
Liechtenstein 2 5.3 513
Monaco 2 5.2 355
Fiji 2 0.2 34
MS Zaandam cruise ship 2 9
Curaçao 1 0.6 958
Burundi 1 0.0 582
Cayman Islands 1 1.6 240
British Virgin Islands 1 3.4 71
Montserrat 1 20.0 13
Western Sahara 1 0.2 10
Gibraltar 0 0.0 693
Faroe Islands 0 0.0 494
Eritrea 0 0.0 463
Bhutan 0 0.0 348
Mongolia 0 0.0 346
Cambodia 0 0.0 291
Seychelles 0 0.0 153
Saint Barthelemy 0 0.0 83
Saint Lucia 0 0.0 78
St Vincent and the Grenadines 0 0.0 74
Dominica 0 0.0 42
Timor-Leste 0 0.0 30
New Caledonia 0 0.0 28
Grenada 0 0.0 28
Vatican 0 0.0 27
Laos 0 0.0 24
Saint Kitts and Nevis 0 0.0 19
Greenland 0 0.0 17
Saint Pierre and Miquelon 0 0.0 16
Falkland Islands 0 0.0 13
Solomon Islands 0 0.0 8
Anguilla 0 0.0 3
Marshall Islands 0 0.0 2

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This information is regularly updated but may not reflect the latest totals for each country.

** The past data for new cases is a three day rolling average. Due to revisions in the number of cases, an average cannot be calculated for this date.

Source: Johns Hopkins University, national public health agencies and UN population data

Figures last updated: 31 October 2020, 10:22 GMT

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