Germany sees record-high death count from COVID-19

BERLIN (AA) - Germany saw a new daily high for coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, although the number of new cases has stabilized.

The Robert Koch Institute said 487 patients died from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 17,123 deaths over the course of the pandemic.

The number of new cases has stabilized in recent days, but remained high compared to previous months.

Another 17,270 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, slightly below the seven-day average of 17,631 cases.

The institute had reported an average of 18,287 cases in the previous week.

As of Tuesday, 3,919 coronavirus patients were receiving treatment in intensive care units (ICUs) and 60% of them were on mechanical ventilators.

The institute urged people to strictly observe coronavirus measures, including hygiene and physical distancing rules.

“While the seven-day-incidence among younger age groups is stable or falling slightly, the incidence among older people is rising further,” the institute said.

“As the latter more often have more severe illness due to COVID-19, the number of serious cases and deaths is also increasing. These can be avoided if we prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus with the help of infection control measures.”

Germany has recorded 1.08 million cases so far, the fifth-highest tally of coronavirus infections in Europe, behind France, Spain, the UK, and Italy.