Merkel Makes Final Plea for Germans to Get Vaccinated.

In a final video address before stepping down after 16 years as Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel called the coronavirus “treacherous” and its toll “bitter,” and she pleaded with the unvaccinated to get the shots.

“I once again emphatically ask you to take this treacherous virus seriously,” Ms. Merkel said in the last of more than 600 episodes of a video podcast series she began in 2006. “Get vaccinated, whether it’s a first vaccination or a booster. Every shot helps.”

So far, 72 percent of the population in Germany have received one dose of the vaccine, and 69 percent are fully vaccinated, according to the Our World in Data project at Oxford University — a far lower share than many of its neighbors in Western Europe.

Ms. Merkel’s plea followed her announcement on Thursday of a partial lockdown targeted to the unvaccinated. The measures are being implemented as Germany’s cases have shot up and deaths have risen amid a Europe-wide surge, and as nations around the world begin confronting the discovery of the new Omicron variant within their borders.

Every death “leaves behind families or friends, stunned, speechless and helpless,” Ms. Merkel said in her video statement. “This is so bitter because it is avoidable.”

And she warned that the new Omicron variant “appears to be even more contagious than the previous ones.”

Germany was one of the first countries in Europe to report the detection of the variant, confirming Omicron infections in a married couple who had been in South Africa, where Omicron was identified last week.

The chancellor made the announcement about the restrictions alongside Olaf Scholz, the Social Democrat who will officially succeed her in less than a week.