Stricter COVID-19 lockdown restrictions came into force around all of Germany's 16 federal states from Monday. As the cases and death rates remain on a high level in the European country, stricter contact restrictions will be imposed until at least the end of January, the government declared.

Some of Germany's federal states already imposed over the weekend stricter rules that Chancellor Angela Merkel and the minister-presidents agreed on last week, Xinhua news agency reported. A number of restrictions were imposed on December 16 in an aim to curtail a second wave of COVID-19 infection.

Non-essential shops as well as, restaurants, bars and leisure facilities remain closed. In addition, German citizens are only permitted to meet with one additional person who is not part of the household, the government ordered. For regions that exceed a 7-day incidence of 200 new infections per 1,00,000 inhabitants, the travel radius is restricted to 15 kilometres around the place of residence, unless a valid reason for travel can be provided.

According to the report by DW, the person should give two negative COVID-19 tests if he or she is travelling to Germany from a ‘high-risk area’. Also, quarantine period of five days is required between the two tests, even if the first test is negative.

12,497 new cases of the coronavirus were reported on Monday taking the toll to 1.92 million, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) while the death total in Germany rose by 343 within one day. The RKI also stated that, over 613,000 people in the country have received a COVID-19 vaccination since the drive started late in December 2020.

(With agency inputs)