Germany has held a national memorial service for its nearly 80,000 victims of the coronavirus pandemic, putting aside deep divisions over Covid-19 restrictions to share the pain of grieving families.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier joined an ecumenical service in the morning at Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, a memorial against war and destruction.
They will later attend a ceremony at the capital's Konzerthaus concert hall, where the president will make a speech. "Sickness, dying and death cannot be just pushed away in this long year, they have cut deeply into the lives of many people," said Georg Baetzing, the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, at the morning service.