UPDATE: These are the Berlin streets where you have to wear a face mask

The requirement to wear a face mask applies in places where a 1.5 metre distance between people can’t be maintained - including outdoors. Here’s a look at where the new rule applies.

That means that the mask rule, decided on and in effect immediately since Tuesday, now applies for weekly markets, flea markets and Christmas markets, most of which begin on the last weekend of November. 

Some, such as Berlin’s famous Gendarmenmarkt, have already been cancelled this year. 

Following the recommendations of Berlin’s interior senator Andreas Geisel of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), the German capital also now requires that masks are worn on the following streets:

•  Steglitzer Schlossstraße
•  Bergmannstraße in Kreuzberg
•  Friedrichstraße in Mitte
•  Kurfürstendamm (or Ku'damm for short) in west Berlin
•  Bölschestraße in Friedrichshagen
•  Karl-Marx-Straße in Neukölln
•  Tauentzienstraße in west Berlin, near Ku'damm
•  Altstadt Spandau
•  Wilmersdorfer Straße
•  Alte Schönhauser Straße in Prenzlauer Berg
• Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
• Alexanderplatz
• Rathausstraße im Ortsteil Mitte
• Hermannplatz
• Hermannstraße
• Sonnenallee
• Breitscheidplatz
• Wittenbergplatz
• Olympischer Platz (im Rahmen von Veranstaltungen bzw. anlässlich von Spielen der Fußball-Bundesliga)
• Hardenbergplatz
• Kottbusser Tor
• Lausitzer Platz
• Boxhagener Platz
• Potsdamer Platz
• Rosenthaler Platz
• Washingtonplatz/Europaplatz
• Bebelplatz
• Hackescher Markt
• Lustgarten
• Leipziger Platz
• Pariser Platz
• Unter den Linden und Karl-Liebknecht Straße beidseitig vom Pariser Platz bis zum Alexanderplatz
• Turmstraße

"The list need not be exhaustive," said Berlin mayor Michael Müller (SPD). In addition, every person is required to wear such a covering in places where space is tight, such as shopping malls or while waiting in a queue.

A requirement to wear a mask already applies to shops, on public transport, in bars and restaurants when a person leaves the table, and in schools outside of the classroom.

A man walking outside on Tuesday by a sign informing passersby to wear a mask. Photo: DPA

Other requirements

Earlier in October Berlin’s coalition government also decided that no more than 25 people would be allowed to gather in public spaces, a reduction of the previous limit of 50.

Inside, no more than five people from two separate households are allowed to meet.

Berlin will retain the curfew, after which bars, restaurants and late-night shops (Spätis) will have to close their doors at 11pm. and gas stations will no longer be allowed to sell alcohol.

On Friday, an administrative court said the curfew didn’t hold up to legal standards. However it is currently continuing to be enforced - except for 11 bars and restaurants which brought a lawsuit against it.

Müller said it was difficult, but necessary, to tighten restrictions. "If we don't manage to slow down the number of infections, there will have to be further restrictions," he said. 

"We don't have many options left to prevent another lockdown."

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