Germany Reports Third COVID-19 Wave As Italy Plans Easter Lockdown

Germany is seeing a third wave of coronavirus infections as Italy begins planning lockdowns over Easter weekend, CNBC reported on Friday (March. 12).

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany’s public health agency, said it had recorded a 20 percent increase in new COVID-19 cases compared to a week ago on Thursday, (March 11).

“We have very clear indications for the fact that the third wave has already begun in Germany,” RKI head Lothar Wieler told reporters in Geneva, per CNBC. “I am very worried.” 

He added that wearing masks and social distancing should continue in full force to keep the infection rate at bay. The country recently started lifting restrictions and ramping up vaccine distribution.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases surged by 14,356 over a 24-hour period, the most cases recorded in Germany in the last two weeks. New cases are up by 2,444 over the previous week. To date, more than 2.5 million people have contracted COVID-19 in Germany, with 73,127 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s administration is considering lockdowns March 15 through to April 6, the Italian news agency ANSA reported, per CNBC. On March 9, 2020, Italy became the first country to impose national lockdowns in response to the pandemic.

The new wave in Germany coincides with an uptick in the spread of a new coronavirus variant that was first found in the U.K. The variant, B.1.1.7, accounts for more than 46 percent  of new infections.

The European Union locked down for the second time in October 2020. Deaths caused by the second wave were much lower than in the pandemic’s early days. 

The eurozone is on the brink of a recession, between high unemployment in much of the region and low retail sales in Germany. January retail sales in Germany dropped 4.5 percent.

A study by McKinsey in the fall of 2020 indicated that 55 percent of Europe’s small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) said they anticipated that they would be out of business within a year if revenues didn’t go up soon.