Germany’s Bavaria mulls imposing coronavirus curfew

BERLIN (AA) - Germany’s southeastern state of Bavaria warned citizens on Thursday that a statewide curfew could be enforced in the coming days, if current measures to curtail the spread of the coronavirus were not followed by everyone.

Bavarian state premier Markus Soeder criticized people, who ignored warnings on not to socialize, and continued partying and gatherings despite concerns over the spread of the coronavirus disease.

“If many people would not voluntarily restrict their social contacts, then the only remaining instrument would be to issue a statewide curfew in Bavaria. This must be clear to everyone,” he said in a televised speech in the Bavarian state parliament in Munich.

His remarks came amid reports that the police had to break up several so-called ”corona parties" in several cities attended by hundreds of young people.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel told citizens on Wednesday night that the country was facing “the gravest challenge since World War II” due to the coronavirus outbreak, and called on them to follow the measures to slow down the spread of the virus.

The government had announced on Monday that all shops, bars and sport venues across the country would be shut down to stem the spread of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

Germany is the third-worst-affected country by the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, after Italy and Spain.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country rose to 13,097 as of Thursday.

The coronavirus death toll has reached to 31, according to statements by local health authorities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Europe the new epicenter of coronavirus, which first emerged in Wuhan, China last December.

The virus has now spread to 164 countries and territories, the WHO data shows.

Out of nearly 223,000 confirmed cases, the death toll now exceeds 9,100, while more than 84,000 have recovered, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.