Berlin Pub Blacklists Chancellor Angela Merkel for Poor Coronavirus Response

Germany announced a month-long lockdown earlier this week. The quarantine, that will start on Monday, 2 November, stipulates the cancellation of all mass events and the closure of bars and restaurants except for takeaways.

The Berlin pub, Ständige Vertretung (Permanent Mission), has blacklisted Chancellor Angela Merkel for her severe quarantine measures, also saying that the government was not ready for the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Some of the politicians decided to close restaurants against and barred us from working. We immediately decided to include them on our blacklist. We won't be glad to see Chancellor Angela Merkel, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, Bavarian PM Markus Söder, and the Governing Mayor of Berlin Michael Müller", the owners of the pub, Jorn Peter Brinkmann and Jan Philipp Bubinger said, urging other establishments to join them.

Paramedics from a patient transport company wearing face masks and gloves as they stand at the entrance to an apartment building to pick up a patient in the district Steglitz in Berlin, Germany, March 17, 2020

© AP Photo / Kay Nietfeld

They also stressed that according to the Robert Koch Institute, the chances of contracting the infection during a visit to a food and drink venue is no more than three percent.

At the moment, Germany has confirmed over 539,500 infected, with a death toll of 10,494 from COVID-19.