Radeberg (Germany) (AFP) – The eastern German state of Saxony may have ordered tough curbs on the unvaccinated to push them to get the Covid-19 jab, but shop assistant Sabine Lonnatzsch, 59, is unmoved.

The new rules are "discriminatory" because they are "pushing the unvaccinated further into a corner," she tells AFP.

She won't change her mind about getting inoculated -- she just won't go to restaurants or events anymore.

"I've had corona cases in my family and in my eyes it is nothing more than a bad flu," she says.

With Covid-19 infections rocketing in Germany, Saxony this week became the first to largely exclude unvaccinated people from indoor dining, cinemas and bars.

The new rules, likely to be emulated by other states in the coming weeks, are designed not only to reduce the spread of Covid-19 but also to encourage more people to get inoculated.