Merkel calls for urgent talks to combat Covid-19 surge

Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for an urgent meeting with Germany's state premiers after the country's Covid-19 cases hit a new daily record on Wednesday, reported dpa.

The virus is "spreading dramatically," government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin, adding that a "quick and unified response" is required.

He said that Merkel, who is acting in a caretaker capacity after her conservatives lost the September elections, was in intensive discussions with ministers, the regional governments and the parties seeking to form Germany's next government.

"The virus takes no account of political processes or transitional periods," Seibert said.

Merkel has repeatedly made it clear that she is ready for a conference of state premiers. So far, however, there has been no consensus among Germany's 16 states on when to hold such a meeting.

One of the things to be discussed in a federal-state roundtable would be a joint effort to speed up booster vaccinations.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's disease control agency, reported a new record high of daily coronavirus infections - 39,676 - on Wednesday. The previous high of 37,120 was reported on Friday. A week earlier that figure was 20,398.

The RKI also reported a record seven-day incidence for cases, which put the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week at 232.1.

It marked the third day in a row of record highs in that key metric, following Monday's figure of 201.1 and Tuesday's figure of 213.7. It has risen from 146.6 a week ago and 66.1 a month ago.

According to the new data, 236 deaths were recorded in Germany within 24 hours, compared with 194 daily deaths a week ago.

The number of coronavirus patients admitted to hospitals per 100,000 inhabitants within seven days was given by the RKI on Tuesday as 4.31 (after 3.93 on Monday).

Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday that more vaccine doses were administered on Tuesday than at any point since August.

Spahn posted on Twitter that some 312,000 doses were administered on Tuesday, while more than 3 million people have received a booster shot so far.

"The direction is right," Spahn wrote, "but its not yet enough to break the momentum."

At least 67.3 per cent of the population has now been fully vaccinated.

Spahn has also drawn up a draft regulation to enable people in Germany to be able to take at least one free coronavirus rapid test per week again from next week.

After being made freely available earlier in the year, the tests have been subject to a fee in Germany since October 11.