Germany is imposing a COVID-19 lockdown for unvaccinated people only

• Germany announced a lockdown for people not vaccinated against COVID-19 on Thursday.
• Unvaccinated people will be banned from restaurants and bars, movie theaters, gyms, non-essential shops, and Christmas markets.

Germany is putting a new COVID-19 lockdown in place, but only for people who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel and her successor, Olaf Scholz, announced Thursday.

"Culture and leisure nationwide will be open only to those who have been vaccinated or recovered (from Covid)," Merkel said about the new lockdown, according to The Telegraph.

Under the new measures, those who are not vaccinated will be banned from restaurants and bars, movie theaters, gyms, non-essential shops, and Christmas markets.

Merkel and Scholz made the announcement after meeting with leaders of the country's 16 states to discuss ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The outgoing and incoming chancellors also voiced support for mandatory vaccinations in a proposal that would have to be voted through parliament, CNN reported.

According to data from Reuters, Germany has administered more than 124 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which is enough to have vaccinated about 74% of the population.

Germany's new lockdown comes two weeks after Austria announced its own lockdown for unvaccinated people.

In Austria's lockdown, unvaccinated people are only allowed to leave home for essential reasons.