Germany reports daily high of 50,000 new COVID cases

Germany has exceeded 50,000 Covid cases for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic as it recorded, 50,196 new COVID-19 infections, according to health authorities.Outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel has described the rise in infections as "dramatic".Her spokesperson said, the pandemic is returning in a new spectacular fashion and called on regional authorities to take further steps to quell the outbreak.Germany's relatively low vaccination rates of just over 67 percent are also cited as one of the reasons for the outbreak.From Monday, Berlin will ban unvaccinated people from entering restaurants, terraces, bars, sports halls, and hairdressers. Over 4.9 million people have been infected by COVID-19 in Germany since the beginning of the pandemic.Merkel said Friday people have a duty to be inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine as a way of protecting not only themselves, but others as well.

“The virus is still among us and threatens the health of its citizens," German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Thursday. German officials are meeting next week to discuss way to combat the COVID-19 surge. German virologist Christian Drosten called for urgent action and warn that the country could witness as many as 100,000 more deaths from the virus if nothing was done to tackle the spread.  On the whole, lawmakers are generally against imposing a new lockdown but some states (which are allowed to set their own restrictions) have reintroduced some Covid rules and restrictions. Several of the worst-hit states, including Saxony, Bavaria, and most recently Berlin, have introduced new restrictions aimed at non-vaccinated people, who have been the first to be affected by the rebound in cases.