reveal unparalleled beauty. ah, a special look at a special country. he loan from above. starts december 27th on d, w. ah ah ah, this is d w. news coming to live from berlin. germany becomes the latest european country to tighten corona virus restrictions. shazlaw shots announces new measures that will come into effect after christmas. they include a limit on social gatherings. there are to be no large scale new year's eve

celebrations. also coming up u. s. president joe biden tells americans it's their duty to get vaccinated. he outlines new steps to bottle the surgeon corona virus cases. they include half of 1000000000 free rapid tests. this is only kron quickly becomes the dominant cobit 19 variant in the us. and the united nations human rights off is calls on poland and pebble roost to address what it calls the upholding situation of migrants stuck on their joint. or ah, hello, i'm terry martin. good to have you with us. germany has become the latest country here in europe to announce new restrictions to deal with only crohn corona virus. barrett. the rules tightening limits on social contacts will be introduced after christmas. army crown is on the advance in germany,

and the politicians say it's time to react after they're meeting, chancellor schultz and the state premiers said private gatherings would be limited to just 10 people if they're vaccinated or of recovered from cove. it for the unvaccinated socializing will be even harder, they will only be able to meet to other people. the moves are prompted by fears the virus could spread over the holidays. can even get of hashed indian if i can understand every one. and each of you who doesn't want to hear any more about corona, about mutations and new virus variants that we cannot and must not close our eyes to this next way. that's beginning to loom over us corona's not taking a christmas break. despite that, most of those buying last minute gifts will be able to hand them over in person. on christmas day. the new restrictions will only be compulsory from the 28th of december. new year is set to be unusually quiet with sports events played in empty

stadiums and dance menu is closed as, as to so this is not the time for parties and social evenings in large groups of goals of under the government is putting hopes on continuing the high rate of vaccination through the christmas period, they hoped to deliver millions more japs by the end of the year and $30000000.00 in january. in berlin, many people seem unfazed by the prospect of tougher measures. shut it in, i hadn't planned anything big anyway, just a small family gathering that is best they ran as a thin, lighter aunt. we're 10 people and of course we would like to celebrate christmas together. the adults are all boosted that and i get a p, c, r test every other day. so we feel we are on the safe side who in the unsolved as this happens, i to the tiffany, 6 of us will get together with friends. unfortunately, without family there in stuttgart and munich, we don't want to get on the train of driving to stressful,

so we'll visit them next year, stresses. as modern isna, the chancellor says though infections are currently falling, it's only a matter of time before armor crohn is the dominant cove it very into germany. corona has not stolen christmas, but the strain it is putting on the public and the politicians is not over yet. of moral has talked to our chief political correspondent, linda kramer. belinda, the new measures don't take a fact until after christmas, wouldn't they do more good of introduce right away. in fact, not compulsory until after christmas, but some federal states will be instituting them sooner. for example, mecklenburg for common in the north east of the country has decided that as of christmas eve, they will be putting measures into effect because intensive care bed capacity. there is severely strain. so there is some leeway nonetheless,

no question. the authorities could have gone further, but the government faces something of a dilemma, terry, because the fact is that infection rates have been falling recently. and until these latest warnings, many people here in germany felt that things were looking up especially compared to late november when cases were much, much higher. but the fact is that at the moment we are in a low between 2 waves, the 4th wave that was caused by the delta variant is receiving. and that 5th wave hasn't hit yet. and that makes it very difficult for the government to essentially get way out in front with the measures that it imposes. and in fact, that was recognized by the chancellor. he said yesterday, he's aware that people are tired, people feel brittle, and therefore i think there's a sense on the part of the government, particularly since the health minister had said there will be no hard lock down before christmas that they need to take this step by step,

but they did face some pushback from the federal states. well, state and federal leaders in germany have disagreed all the best way to fight the pandemic in the past. is there more consensus this time, melinda? outwardly, there was consensus, but as i said, a couple of federal states did feel that measures don't go far enough. they made that clear in a press conference following the need any so. so the blanket of consensus was a bit thin. perhaps these particular states, they include bomb written back in the south west saxony in the east. they're concerned that the new government hasn't established the necessary legal framework for ensuring that in an emergency uniform measures can be adopted quickly across all of germany. as you know, such a law was in place under the last government. this government decided to repeal it

in hopes that the going to stop the legislature would then have more of a say in the measures that are established. but as i say, several states feel that we don't at the moment have the necessary legal basis. and there was also quite a heated discussion about a last minute warning yesterday from the country center of disease control, which did in fact advocate a harder lockdown. and as you mentioned earlier, melinda parts of germany, the intensive care units, are already full. how concerned or authorities about the capacity of the country's health care system to deal with what's coming? they are very, very concerned. some experts have said that con could be the dominant variance here in germany as early as the end of january. and that we could then see new cases up to a 100000 a day that will put an absolute strain on intensive care capacity across this country. as you know, in the late november, early december, some hospitals were already having to do triology and patients elsewhere for

intensive care treatment. that's one concern. the other concern that essential services, like electricity, water, garbage disposal and so on. because we may see many, many essential workers falling in. melinda, thank you so much. are put, she political correspondent, will, into crane is run up of some of the other developments in the pandemic worldwide. up in portugal bars and restaurants will now close from the 26th of december 5 days earlier than scheduled infections in portugal have risen sharply despite the vaccination rate of around 90 percent. israel has announced it will begin offering a 4th dose of covered 19 vaccine to medical personnel and people over the age of 60 . this comes to mid concerns over the, on the cross variance and is covered 19 pass for travel will now expire 9 months after vaccination. unless the holder has a booster shot,

the new rule is due to come into force in february. us present, joe biden has announced new measures to bottle a surge in corona virus cases, including providing 500000000 free rapid tests. he also called on unvaccinated americans to get their shots calling into patriotic duty. this comes in response to the army kron variant, which has quickly become the dominant strain of covered 19 in the u. s. that has many americans worried as the holiday season begins. there is not much christmas cheer in washington, just a short distance from the white house. these people are coming up to be tested for cope at 19 as case numbers reached record highs. i'll call the fall. we are so i need to take a test in everybody that is a few of us getting together. so we want to all take a cobra test to be safe to be just because i've got grandkids at home and my mother

and everybody she's elderly. so i have to keep, you know, just by don't take chances at home to my family. i'm not trying to do it, but it's not just testing that'll help in the battle against alma crohn. the white house president biden made yet another appeal to americans to get vaccinated. get your booster shots, were a mask our doctors and made it clear booster shots provide the strongest protection . unfortunately, we still have trans millions of people who are eligible for the booster shots covered not yet gotten. i've gotten the 1st 2 shots, not gotten the booster folks. the booster shots are free and widely available in new york city, those booster shot even come with a cash payment. the city's mayor has offered a $100.00 to every person who gets booster by the end of the year at desperate

measure as the us enters another holiday season. riddled with uncertainty about what course to pandemic will take. well, pandemic is just one of a number of battles. president biden is fighting at the moment. we asked are washington correspondent stuff on siemens. what the mood at the white house is like one year into the biden administration. optics matter in politics and the optics at the moment for the violent ministrations are not that great. why not because of the built better back better program. i would sure joe biden pushed really, really hard. and as we all know, one senator at democratic, started out from west virginia torpedo this and said he's not going to get the vote for this plan. so the joe biden and his administration, and his 1st year in office is a mixed bag of success because he couldn't push through this program. he said though, he would try again with the senator mas dimension or some dimension. but this seems

to be a out there. we have to wait if this is gonna transpire. and then of course, you have to covered situation which everybody may be in the summer before summer thought or over the worst. and now we're have our micron and was just doesn't look too good for the white house at the moment and for a 2nd distraction. so you look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today. keepers economy minister has said inflation in the communist state will top 71 percent this year. he said that despite runaway prices of the country is recovering from a pandemic driven recession, the official inflation rate is one of the highest in the world. many experts believe the real figure is much higher. and last minute preparations are underway. in madrid's tantra real opera house for the countries traditional christmas mega lottery, the prize money this year comes in at a whopping 2380000000 euros. that makes it the world's richest lottery earning, it's, it's name l gordo,

or the fat. the united nations has again called on both belarus and poland to address what is called what it calls the appalling situation of migrants on their joint border. hundreds of people, mainly from iraq and syria, remained stranded there. poland and the accused diversion leader, alexander lic, ashika, of encouraging them to travel to bel roost to tried and gain entry into the european union. battle roost denies this and says to you is to blame for the humanitarian crisis on the border. bella will soon authority say almost 600 people remain at this warehouse on the better side of the border. despite the cold weather and the terrible conditions, they swear they can't go home and they have to move forward to have a future. what was the same with

you or none of it? yeah, we came here to tour youtube. we want to go to german, does what need to go? but that path is blocked in many migrant se, so 2 is the way back to minsk, the united nations human rights office accuses both poland and fellers of pushing migrants back and forth across the border. it refers to statements made by migrants interviewed by a u. n. team in early december describing human rights abuses on both sides of the frontier. the majorities ended wanting bedouins, they had been beaten or threatened by security forces, and also alleged that the brother machine security forces forced them to cross the border on team walls that had numerous reports of people being immediately and automatically returned to paris from poland. the human rights office,

his calling on both nations to address the crisis in line with their obligations to international human rights and refugee law. you're watching d. w. news. just a quick reminder of our top story. we're following for you. german chancellor, all of shots has announced new restrictions to slow the spread of the only chron corona virus variance. the measures which will come into force after christmas include limiting public and private gatherings even for vaccinated people. other european countries are taking similar steps of next. it's business news, i'm terry martin. thanks for watching. sh . i'm just kinda, i think that's hard and in the end is a meet you on what i wanted to you and more we will send you back. are you.