germany has reported 962
deaths from coronavirus in the past 24
hours the country's highest
daily toll since the start of the
pandemic this week
this comes a week after germany
tightened lockdown measures in a bid to
contain the spread of the virus during
the holiday period as in other countries
hard hit by the second wave of
infections it's
not just hospitals that are struggling
to cope
they've been working round the clock at
mason crematorium
the coronavirus means they've had to
deal with many more bodies
this year
the sealed coffins have covered 19
victims inside
with these safety precautions in place
it's nearly impossible to have direct
contact with the dead
crematoriums here in the state of saxony
are at maximum capacity
that half the coffins have a coronavirus
sticker highly infectious
the state premier is warning residents
the next 10 weeks will be the most
difficult will be a third wave
the question is how high it will be
and everyone who is dealing with this is
worried about how much higher than the
current peak it will climb
the number of new infections may at last
be leveling out
but people in mycen want answers from
their leaders
they just can't agree there were no
clear rules no one is going outside
anymore people are infecting their own
families
some people are following all the rules
and others are coming up with their own
theories they say there is no
coronavirus
but every day there are more coffins in
the crematorium containing the bodies of
covert 19 victims
let's bring in our political
correspondent emmanuel
uh emma the coronavirus fatalities in
germany are continuing to rise despite
strict lockdown measures do we know why
well terry does an increasingly diffused
transmission which means more and more
clusters and more and more of those
happen in nursing and care homes where
you will find the most vulnerable people
the elderly
sick people and also there's more
infections happening in community
facilities
in religious events in any place places
where there's contact
between people and added to that one key
point
is really trying to curb infections in
trying to cut those infections is really
to trace
the infection chain and in most cases
this is no longer possible there's
nearly
25 000 new infections today 962 deaths
if you look at the seven days incidence
rate
it has been skyrocketing nearly 200
cases per hundred
thousand inhabitants that's four times
higher than what
is already a critical threshold so
that's fair to say
that the situation is not under control
at the moment
now the head of germany's infectious
diseases institute
says that if case numbers keep rising
even stricter lockdown measures may
become
necessary what sort of measures are we
talking about
well the goal is and has always been to
prevent the spread of the virus by
reducing contacts hence
social interactions would be hit lotta
villa the head of institute
issued the stark warning he said to not
travel
and many scientists feel the effects
that christmas will have on the pandemic
as people travel
to meet with their families and some
states have already introduced new rules
in bavaria for example all travelers
returning from
high-risk areas will have to undergo a
coronavirus test and in
baden-wurttemberg there will be a
quarantine requirement for people
coming from neighboring france and
switzerland there's also there's also a
huge debate
here in germany on whether or not
churches well they should cancel
christmas services something that has
been met with opposition from some state
premiers
for example in northwind westphalia now
germany like much of europe is expected
to start rolling out its
vaccination program on december 20
on 27th that's just four days from now
is everything in place to assure
a smooth start well first there will be
around 150
000 doses of the biotech fights of
vaccine that are due to be delivered on
december 26
and the first vaccinations should take
place in elderly care homes the
following day
and then further doses will be due later
in the week and the health ministry said
that there's around three to four
million doses that could be given out in
january only and 13 million
up to 30 million by the end of march
they will be administered in care and
nursing homes first then
there will be a special vaccination
centers that have been set up already
all over the country
and vaccines will first go to the most
vulnerable and that includes the elderly
and medical personnel and then the
general population and germany has
ordered
the biotech fighter vaccine but also the
modena vaccine which
which is still awaiting approval from eu
regulators
emma thanks for bringing us update there
dw's and uh political correspondent
amanda was shot
while the coronavirus has spread
throughout germany it's affected some
parts of the country of course
worse than others the first hot spot
emerged back in march
in the town of heinzbach in the far west
of the country
that outbreak was attributed to regional
carnival celebrations
as 2020 draws to a close we look at the
impact the pandemic has had
on the small community there
as a priest marcus bruns has guided many
people from heinz back through this
difficult year
and there are striking this year a very
exhausting year
it took a lot of strength
you can already see how it is weighing
on people
i think we've really been burdened by
all the economic consequences and
repercussions
by the whole situation and people have
fallen ill and died which is the worst
kind of burden
the situation is not easy for him either
heinz beck is small
almost everyone knows everyone bones had
to bury people he knew
who had died of corona
the experience when corona hit us back
in february and the numbers began to
rise in the hindsback district
all the numbers very quickly became
names and faces
so you know the families you know the
people who are affected
that was very challenging
in february heinzberg was confronted
with one of the first major outbreaks of
the coronavirus in germany
an infected couple had attended a
carnival party soon after heinz beck
became the epicenter of the pandemic
for many residents this was a very
difficult time
one was really very affected especially
since
the first infected people were my own
acquaintances
and we experienced it firsthand that the
virus can have drastic effects
among our relatives and acquaintances
some people have fallen ill
and one lady has even died that was an
eye-opener for us
social cohesion in hinesburg has become
much better
but in the beginning the whole situation
was really bad
because everyone pointed their fingers
at us
that time priest marcus bruns also
witnessed how people from heinzberg were
ostracized
people were insulted cars were
vandalized
heinz back bashing became an expression
and that really hurts because nobody is
responsible for it in the first
place even the one who was identified as
the first one who was infected
nobody can be blamed for that yes this
is
in the meantime heinzberg like all of
germany is in lockdown again
it has not yet re-emerged as a hotspot
but marcus prunes knows that corona is
far from over