Tag: Germany

EU court finds against ‘Dieselgate’ car firms

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Court of Justice ruled on Thursday that it had been illegal for car companies to install devices to defeat emissions tests and mislead motorists about diesel pollution levels. “A manufacturer cannot install a defeat device which systematically improves, during approval procedures, the performance of the vehicle emission control system and thus obtain approval of the vehicle,” the court said. The statement identified the manufacturer subject to the complaint as […]

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Germany aims to begin virus vaccinations December 27: official

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany will begin coronavirus vaccinations on December 27 with elderly care home residents, Health Minister Jens Spahn announced Wednesday, with the European Union aiming for all 27 member states to begin on the same day. In a statement, Germany’s 16 state-level health ministers said Spahn had announced “the expected approval and supply of the BioNTech vaccine” with distribution beginning shortly before year’s end. As Germany holds the EU’s rotating presidency, that […]

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Germany sees record death toll on first day of new lockdown

  by Ed FRANKL Agence France Presse FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany reported a record number of deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday, the first day of a new partial lockdown to try to halt a surge in infections. A total of 952 people died in the previous 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute disease control centre. It said 27,728 new coronavirus cases were registered, a figure close to the daily record […]

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EU set for vaccines by year-end after regulator relents

  by Danny KEMP Agence France Presse THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (AFP) — The EU’s medicines regulator on Tuesday dramatically advanced the decision day for the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus jab under pressure from Germany, meaning vaccinations in the bloc could start by the year’s end. The Amsterdam-based European Medicines Agency’s announcement that it will meet on December 21 instead of December 29 to decide whether to authorise the shot, followed a growing backlash from desperate EU […]

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Non-essential shops, schools to close in Germany: Merkel

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Shops selling non-essential goods, hair-salons and schools in Germany will close from Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said, to halt an “exponential growth” in new coronavirus infections in Europe’s biggest economy. The partial lockdown will apply until January 10, with companies also urged to allow employees to work from home or offer extended company holidays, under the new measures agreed by Merkel with regional leaders of Germany’s 16 states on Sunday. Alcohol […]

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Mass evacuation in Frankfurt as WWII bomb is defused

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Nearly 13,000 residents were evacuated in Frankfurt on Sunday as experts defused an unexploded World War II bomb, local emergency services said. The 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) British bomb had been found on a construction site in Germany’s financial capital on Thursday, the emergency services said. It was successfully defused in less than two hours, the fire service announced on Twitter in the afternoon. Some 12,800 residents had been asked to leave their […]

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Germany’s coronavirus infections pass one million

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany on Friday saw its total number of coronavirus infections pass one million, the Robert Koch Institute for disease control said. The institute recorded more than 22,000 new daily cases, pushing the country’s total beyond the one million mark. Germany had largely contained the spread of the virus in the spring but has been hit hard by a second wave of infections. The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care nationwide […]

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German vaccine maker gives hope as US virus deaths top 250,000

by Yann Schreiber with AFP bureaus FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — The German maker of a top coronavirus vaccine said on Thursday its jab could be delivered as early as December, offering more promising news even as virus deaths in the world’s worst-affected country, the United States, passed a quarter of a million. A slew of positive clinical vaccine trials is building hope for an end to the pandemic that has killed more than […]

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Merkel fails in new curbs bid as virus infections stabilize

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday failed to push through additional curbs to combat the coronavirus, as she said ongoing restrictions have helped to halt a runaway rise in infection numbers. Speaking after talks with the leaders of Germany’s 16 states, Merkel said the country had managed to “break the dynamic of new infections” after restaurants, leisure facilities and cultural sites were ordered to close again from the start of November. But […]

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France locks down, Germany closes down, as virus cases hit record

by Adam Plowright with Hui Min Neo in Berlin and AFP bureaus PARIS, France (AFP) — France announced a new month-long national lockdown and Germany imposed drastic new curbs on people’s daily lives as the EU’s biggest countries admitted that hospitals would soon be overwhelmed by patients suffering from coronavirus. The dramatic lockdown decision from French President Emmanuel Macron came after weeks of exponentially rising new infections across Europe that have forced governments across the […]

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Germany reports record new virus cases in 24 hours

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany recorded 11,287 new Covid-19 infections in 24 hours, a sharp jump from the previous day and a record for the country since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to official data Thursday. The figure far exceeds the next highest total of 7,830 recorded last Friday, and is a steep jump from the 7,595 cases reported on Wednesday by the Robert Koch Institute. A press conference was expected later Thursday morning, […]

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‘Corona chaos’ as Germans baffled by virus rules

by Femke COLBORNE Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — When Covid-19 first struck Europe earlier this year, Germany’s federal system was credited with taking early and targeted measures that helped contain the virus better than many other countries. But as the second wave gathers momentum in Europe’s biggest economy, cracks in the federal system are starting to show. With different states implementing different travel restrictions, quarantine rules and test strategies, a confusing patchwork of […]

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