BERLIN: Germany is in a very serious situation with the onset of the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Chancellor Angela Merkel said, announcing restrictions on access to public life for people who were neither vaccinated nor recovered.

Merkel added that the federal government was considering a request by regional governments for legislation that would allow them to require care and hospital staff to be vaccinated.

"Many of the measures we are announcing would not be necessary if more people were vaccinated," she told a news conference on Friday.