Germany keeps COVID restrictions as omicron infections soar

By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany’s 16 state governors have decided to keep existing coronavirus restrictions in place and examine how best to use strained PCR test capacities as the highly contagious omicron variant fuels a steep rise in infections. Germany has hit a series of daily infection records over the past two weeks as omicron has spread. On Jan. 7, Scholz and the governors agreed to toughen requirements for entering restaurants and bars and decided to shorten quarantine and self-isolation periods. Scholz said Monday that relatively tough restrictions in Germany on private gatherings, large gatherings and other venues helped delay until now the arrival of very high infection rates, “much later than in many neighboring countries.”