Germany urged to lockdown NOW while Holland braces for ‘Code Black’ hospital chaos & new covid strain emerges in Belgium

GERMANY is being urged to go into lockdown NOW amid spiralling Covid cases as a horrifying fourth wave of the deadly bug striked Europe. As hospitals become overwhelmed in Holland, the country is bracing for a “Code Black” scenario meaning there would not be enough beds to treat everyone, while the new super strain has emerged in Belgium. EPACovid patients in Germany are being around the country to find intensive care beds[/caption] AFPIt comes as German authorities are urged to put the country in lockdown as cases spiral[/caption] Infection rates are skyrocketing across the continent, causing some nations to plunge populations into lockdowns and impose fresh draconian restrictions. The surge has been blamed on the relatively low uptake of vaccines compared to the UK and a lag in deciding to give booster jabs. After Germany yesterday passed the grim milestone of 100,000 Covid deaths, top health officials have tabled throwing the country back into lockdown to curb surging infection rates. Medics believe such measures are needed to tackle the huge increase in the number of patients being admitted to intensive care and are the only way to avoid “the road that leads to chaos”. Germany is now among the worst affected nations in western Europe, hitting a record of over 76,000 infections on Friday. With hospitals filling up fast, authorities have been forced to fly severely ill people around the country to find intensive care beds. Most read in The Sun IN THE DOCK Bobbi-Anne's family hurl abuse at musician in court accused of her murder I'M A CELEB CRISIS I'm A Celeb bosses fear walkout as 3 stars have urgent medical treatment DEATH DUTY Funeral director confesses secrets customers never know & what happens to bodies WRECK IT RALF How Man Utd could line up under Rangnick with new Sancho and Bruno roles WHAT AN I-DEA Ikea offers mini 100-square-foot homes for just 75p a month POO WHAT Everyone thinks we’re poor after ‘baby poo’ paintjob on our council houses Professor Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s federal disease control agency, says the nation is “at a crossroads”. “We need a massive contact reduction immediately,” he said. “I expect right now for the decision-makers to trigger all measures in order that we can bring down the incidence rate together. “We are at a crossroads. We have one choice. Either we choose the road that leads to chaos and to a bad end or the one which unburdens the health system and maybe enables a peaceful Christmas.” Germany is even considering making vaccines compulsory amid warnings from Angela Merkel the coming winter will be “worse than anything we’ve seen”. It comes as hospitals in the Netherlands prepare for a “Code Black” situation as there could soon not be enough beds available for people struck down by Covid. Dutch health minister Hugo de Jonge insisted the country is still “very far away” from code black – but Peter Langenbach, chairman of the board of the Maasstad Hospital in Rotterdam disputes this. He told radio show NPO 1 doctors are already facing difficult choices on who to treat first and says restrictions are not working do not go far enough as cases continue to dramatically rise, branding them “insufficiently coherent, insufficiently communicated, and insufficiently strict”. COVID CHAOS “We are now ten days after the press conference and about nine days after the measures were announced, and we are still above 20,000 infections and a large number of admissions per day,” Langenbach said. Meanwhile, the new Covid variant has spread to Belgium and Israel after being found in Botswana, South Africa and Hong Kong. Called B.1.1.529, the bug has 32 mutations – twice as many as the delta variant and experts are cautioning that it could force countries back into lockdowns. Belgium said this afternoon it has detected the first announced case in Europe of the new Covid-19 variant, in an unvaccinated person returning from abroad. And Slovakia – in the midst of the world’s fastest rise in infections – on Wednesday declared a 90-day state of emergency with a two-week lockdown shutting all non-essential shops. Warning people to stay indoors, president Zuzana Čaputová told the nation: “Slovakia is losing the battle against Covid.”  It follows a similar total lockdown in Austria and new restrictions in Greece, the Netherlands and Romania – which has already seen bodies piling up outside hospital morgues. The World Health Organisation has warned Europe could see an additional 700,000 deaths by the spring. ReutersDutch hospitals are on the brink of a ‘Code Black’ situation[/caption] We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun news desk? Email us at exclusive@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4104. You can WhatsApp us on 07423 720 250. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours. Click here to get The Sun newspaper delivered for FREE for the next six weeks.