German companies expect COVID-19 restrictions on public life to continue for months: survey
A coronavirus mockup is seen during a demonstration against the restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic in Dortmund, western Germany, on August 9, 2020.
Companies in Germany expected coronavirus-related restrictions on public life to continue for another 8.5 months on average, according to a survey published by the ifo Institute on Monday.
Companies in the country's leisure sector, including sports, entertainment and recreation activities, in particular "fear a longer period of restrictions," the survey found. The sector expected to be affected by restrictions for another 13 months.
Manufacturers of beverages and pharmaceutical products, as well as companies for postal, courier and express services, on the other hand, expected the shortest restrictions on public life at only 6.4 to 6.8 months, the survey indicated.
Last week, a survey published by German magazine Spiegel found that 82 percent of Germans expected a renewed tightening of COVID-19 protection measures in the country this year.
Only 11 percent expected no further tightening of measures this year, according to the survey conducted by opinion research institute Civey among more than 5,000 people in Germany.
The threshold of 1,000 daily COVID-19 infections in Germany had last been exceeded in May before numbers started increasing again at the end of July. New infections peaked in early April when more than 6,000 new daily cases were confirmed.
At the end of July, Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the federal government agency for disease control and prevention, warned that he was "very concerned about the latest developments" after daily COVID-19 infection cases started to rise again.
On Monday, Germany reported 436 new infections, taking the total to 216,327, according to the RKI. Daily COVID-19 infection numbers had been above 1,000 towards the end of last week.
