独、ニュルンベルクのＸマス市中止　コロナ再拡大で

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】新型コロナウイルス感染が急速に再拡大し対応に苦慮しているドイツで、恒例のクリスマスマーケットの開催中止が相次いでいる。26日には、世界的に有名なニュルンベルク市のクリスマスマーケットの中止が発表された。（写真はドイツ南部ニュルンベルクで2019年に開催されたクリスマスマーケット）
　ニュルンベルクのクリスマスマーケットはドイツで特に大規模かつ歴史あるものの一つで、毎年２００万人以上が訪れる。
　すでに首都ベルリンやデュッセルドルフ、ケルンなど、国内各地でクリスマスマーケットの中止や大幅な規模縮小が発表されており、２４日夜にはフランクフルト市当局も国内屈指の人気を誇るクリスマスマーケットの中止を決定していた。フランクフルトのペーター・フェルトマン市長は、「２度目のロックダウン（都市封鎖）を回避するのが目標だ」と説明した。
　ドイツでは例年１１月下旬から、祝祭シーズンの始まりを告げるクリスマスマーケットが国内各地の約２５００か所で開催され、地元住民をはじめ観光客にも愛されてきた。独出店業組合によると、国内外から訪れる観光客は例年約１億６０００万人に上り、総額３０億～５０億ユーロ（約３７００億～６２００億円）を売り上げている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/10/27-12:34）

The German city of Nuremberg has cancelled its world-renowned Christmas market over soaring coronavirus cases, officials said on Monday.
The worsening pandemic has already forced a slew of other German cities, including Berlin, Duesseldorf and Cologne, to announce they are scrapping or severely curtailing their Christmas markets.
After much deliberation and in order to protect the population, we have come to the conclusion that the Christmas market will not take place this year, Nuremberg mayor Marcus Koenig said in a statement.
Germany is home to some 2,500 Christmas markets each year that are popular with visitors who come to sip mulled wine, nibble on roasted chestnuts and shop for seasonal trinkets among clusters of wooden chalets.
They draw about 160 million domestic and international visitors annually who bring in revenues of three to five billion euros ($3.6-5.9 billion), according to the BSM stallkeepers' industry association.
Nuremberg's Christkindlesmarkt, famous for its Christkind Christmas gift bringer dressed in a golden crown and robes, attracts more than two million visitors annually.
It is also one of Germany's biggest and oldest such markets.
Germany has seen a surge in Covid-19 cases over the past week and has regularly reported more than 10,000 new cases a day.
With regional disagreements hampering efforts to fight the virus, Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet the heads of Germany's 16 states on Wednesday in a bid to agree new national measures.
Merkel made a renewed plea on Saturday on citizens to limit their contacts and avoid unnecessary travel to prevent further transmission of the virus.
How the winter will go, how our Christmas will be, all that will be decided in the coming days and weeks, she said.
She acknowledged that the curbs are not only difficult but also a painful sacrifice.
But we must do it only temporarily, and we're doing it for ourselves: for our own health and that of everyone we can spare from falling ill.
The country has recorded 437,866 cases and 10,056 deaths so far, according to the Robert Koch Institute disease control centre.