German Health Minister calls for more measures against Covid

In the wake of record Covid-19 infection figures in Germany, Minister of Health Jens Spahn has called for additional measures to contain the further spread of the virus.

Daily infections stayed near the 50,000-mark which was exceeded for the first time since the pandemic on Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 48,640 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, which increased the overall infection tally to 4,974,112.

The death toll currently stood at 98,050.

Germany now has to "do everything necessary to break this momentum", Spahn told reporters here.

"Otherwise, it will be a bitter December for the entire country," he added


The seven-day Covid-19 incidence rate kept rising to new record levels and reached 263.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on Friday, compared with 169.9 a week ago, according to the RKI.

"If we want to break the fourth wave, we have to act more decisively," said Spahn, suggesting the introduction of so-called 2G Plus for public events, which means that vaccinated and recovered people would have to present a negative test in order to attend an event.

According to the German Intensive Care Availability Register (DIVI), the number of Covid-19 patients requiring treatment in intensive care units (ICUs) reached 2,863 on Friday, but still below the peak of around 5,700 during the height of the second wave last year.-IANS