Germany reports record 65,371 new COVID-19 cases

BERLIN (AA) - Germany recorded its highest daily number of coronavirus cases on Thursday with more than 65,000 new infections, as officials warned that many hospitals were at the limits of their capacity.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country's disease control agency, confirmed 65,371 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, up from 52,826 cases reported on Wednesday.

The virus claimed 264 more lives, bringing the country’s death toll in the pandemic to 98,538.

Health authorities in the southern state of Bavaria warned that many hospitals have reached their full capacity with seriously ill COVID-19 patients, and started transferring new patients to other cities and states.

There were 3,376 seriously ill coronavirus patients in intensive care units (ICUs) across the country on Wednesday, with 1,710 of them on mechanical ventilators.

Germany has seen a resurgence of coronavirus as people spend more time indoors during the colder months, and a large number of people are still unvaccinated against the disease.

As many as 56.3 million people, or 67.7% of the country’s population, are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The government’s goal has been to vaccinate at least 75% of the population to prevent an exponential rise in new infections during the fall and winter months.

Germany’s central government and premiers of federal states are scheduled to hold a videoconference later in the day to organize a wider vaccination campaign and introduce tougher restrictions, especially for unvaccinated people.