People wearing face masks wait for a tram at a station in Berlin, capital of Germany, on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)
BERLIN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Germany's daily number of COVID-19 infections exceeded 300,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases said on Thursday.
The RKI registered 318,387 new cases in the past 24 hours, almost 23,500 more than a week ago. The country's seven-day COVID-19 incidence also rose to a new record of 1,752 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, up from 1,734 on the previous day.
"Hospitals are currently treating more COVID-19-infected patients than at any other time during this pandemic," said Gerald Gass, chairman of the management board of the German Hospital Federation (DKG) on Wednesday.
Since the beginning of February, the number of patients has increased by a large margin. A total of 75 percent of hospitals in Germany had to limit their healthcare services due to staff shortages as a result of quarantine measures, according to DKG.
At the beginning of this week, Germany lifted all COVID-19 restrictions except mandatory mask-wearing on public transportation and in care and nursing facilities. However, federal states can introduce tighter restrictions for infection hotspots.
As of Wednesday, at least 48.6 million people had received a booster dose, while 19.5 million people remained unvaccinated across the country, according to official data.
The number of unvaccinated people in Germany has barely gone down in recent months.
After a maximum of 7.6 million vaccinations in one week at the end of 2021, the number of weekly vaccinations declined to around 510,000, according to RKI data.
Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz called again on a general mandatory vaccination as this step would "lead us out of the pandemic," he said during a speech in the country's lower house of parliament Bundestag on Wednesday. ■
A health worker collects a swab from a man at a COVID-19 test station in Berlin, capital of Germany, on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)
A passenger wearing a face mask gets on a train in Berlin, capital of Germany, on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)
Passengers wearing face masks are seen on a platform of a station in Berlin, capital of Germany, on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)
A man has a COVID-19 test at a test station in Berlin, capital of Germany, on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)
People cross a street in Berlin, capital of Germany, on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)
A man wearing a face mask is seen on a platform of a station in Berlin, capital of Germany, on March 24, 2022. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)