Curfews for over a million people – SWR news

In Corona hotspots in Baden-Württemberg, citizens will in future only be allowed to leave the house at night with valid reasons. Millions of people in the country could be affected by this.

The Baden-Württemberg state government agreed on Thursday on night exit restrictions in circles with more than 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week. There should also be exceptions, for example in the case of medical emergencies and people who have to work at night.

The period in which the exit restrictions apply and other measures of the country’s hotspot strategy will be formulated tomorrow, Friday. They should then come into force in the affected areas as soon as possible, a government spokesman told the SWR. In addition, the ministries of transport and culture want to clarify at a round table with the municipalities and bus companies to what extent the start of lessons can be staggered at the schools in the hotspots and whether more buses can travel.

Affected more than a million people

For days and sometimes weeks, several cities and regions in the country have exceeded the incidence value of 200 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants and week. In addition to the cities of Mannheim, Pforzheim and Heilbronn, the Schwarzwald-Baar district and the districts of Lörrach and Tuttlingen were above this value until Thursday afternoon. A good 1.1 million people would be affected by special hotspot rules – more than a tenth of all Baden-Württemberg residents.

Curfew in Mannheim from Friday

The city of Mannheim had already imposed a nightly curfew between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. The curfew will initially apply for ten nights, from Friday to Saturday night, said Lord Mayor Peter Kurz (SPD) in an online press conference. To leave the house you then need “valid reasons”, which you have to be able to make credible during an inspection, said Kurz. This includes, for example, professional activities. The police are planning mobile and stationary checks. The forces would be “massively strengthened” for the controls.

The district of Tuttlingen and the Schwarzwald-Baar district are also planning further restrictions on contact and an expanded mask requirement. On Friday, both circles want to publish a general decree that will apply from Saturday. The exact measures are still in the vote, it said in the afternoon.

The Corona hotspot Heilbronn is still holding back with the imposition of a night curfew. Before you act, you want to be able to make a reliable statement, said a spokeswoman for the city administration in the SWR: “We don’t want to unsettle the citizens. We expect the decree almost every hour.”

In the district of Lörrach, the 7-day incidence value is also over 200 infections per 100,000 inhabitants. The district authority in Lörrach did not want to rush forward, but rather wait for the state government to make further decisions.

Stricter contact rules and exit restrictions are being considered

Whether there will be any further measures for hotspots in Baden-Württemberg in addition to the night curfew and event bans is now to be regulated in the decree of the Ministry of Social Affairs. Among other things, there are stricter contact restrictions in the room: households should then only be allowed to meet with one other person (children under 14 excluded). Hair salons and tanning salons would have to close again.

Visits to hospitals and care facilities should only be permitted after a previous antigen test or with an FFP2 mask. In addition, the easing over the Christmas days for hotspot regions could be canceled.

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