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Belgium enforces new Covid restrictions and Germany warns of ‘dramatic’ measures as Europe fights rising cases
Germans have been warned that the country could face a “really terrible Christmas” as it reported record coronavirus cases amid the escalating surge across Europe.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said the situation was “dramatic” as the Robert Koch Institute reported 65,371 new cases in 24 hours on Thursday. “If enough people get vaccinated, that is the way out of the pandemic,” she added.

The disease agency’s director, Lothar Wieler, said Germany needs to increase its vaccination rates to significantly above 75 per cent, from 67.7 per cent at present, a comparatively low figure for the continent. Some German regions have vaccination rates as low as 57.6 per cent.

“We are currently heading toward a serious emergency,” said the agency’s warning that hospitals were running short