BERLIN, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- As the German Bundestag debates the introduction of mandatory vaccination, the country's seven-day COVID-19 incidence rate has continued to soar to almost 1,000, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said on Wednesday.
The nationwide seven-day incidence rate reached a new record of 940.6 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, after hitting 894.3 on the previous day, the RKI said. Six federal states in Germany have already reported an incidence rate of over 1,000.
The daily number of new infections in Germany also reached a new high on Wednesday, with 164,000 cases reported in the previous 24 hours.
While the former Chancellor Angela Merkel had rejected a general vaccination requirement, her replacement Olaf Scholz and Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach are in favor of such a measure in order to prepare for a new COVID-19 wave in the fall.
Discussions on this issue have been ongoing for weeks, with the lower parliament (or Bundestag) set to debate various proposals for mandatory vaccination later on Wednesday.
Although at least 42.6 million people, or 51.3 percent of Germany's total population, have received a booster vaccination, more than 20 million people in the country were still unvaccinated as of Tuesday.
According to a YouGov survey on behalf of the German press agency dpa, a majority of 62 percent believed that the planned COVID-19 vaccination obligation was dividing society. ■