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"We
are in a very serious situation. In some parts of the country
you can only describe it as dramatic: overfilled intensive care
units, severely ill people who have to be flown across Germany
to get the care they need," she said.
"That is why I appeal to you again urgently: take the malicious
virus seriously," Merkel said in the last of the more than 660
podcasts she has recorded in office before handing over to
Social Democrat Olaf Scholz next week.
"Get yourself vaccinated. It doesn't matter if it is a first
shot or a booster. Every vaccine helps."
German officials agreed on Thursday to bar unvaccinated people
from accessing all but the most essential businesses such as
grocery stores, pharmacies and bakeries, and also decided to
seek to make vaccination mandatory.
Germany recorded 64,510 new infections on Saturday and another
378 deaths, bringing the total death toll to 102,946.
German hospitals are under increasing strain, with patients
being moved from intensive care to ordinary wards earlier than
medically advisable, Gerald Gass, head of the German Association
of Hospitals, told the Watson news site.
"We are heading towards disaster medicine in some hotspots,"
Gass said.
The surge in coronavirus cases in recent months has been
particularly pronounced in the former Communist east, where
rates of vaccination are lower and support is strong for the
far-right Alternative for Germany, which has opposed lockdowns.
Police broke up an unauthorised protest by opponents of
coronavirus restrictions late on Friday outside the home of
Petra Koepping, the health minister in the eastern state of
Saxony, which currently has the highest rate of new cases.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Helen Popper)
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