Over 36,000 people in Germany died of COVID-19 last year: Report

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - More than 36,000 people died due to coronavirus-related causes in Germany last year, nationwide statistics showed on Friday.

Preliminary evaluations of the data indicated that 36,291 death certificates issued last year cited COVID-19 as a cause, according to a report by the Federal Statistical Office.

Reacting to the report, Sebastian Kluesener from the Federal Institute for Population Research said: "Overall, Germany got through the corona(virus) pandemic relatively lightly by international standards."

"The proportion of cases in which corona was stated as the main cause of death is astonishingly high in view of the fact that many of those affected also suffered from serious illnesses," Kluesener added.

The number of daily coronavirus cases in Germany was up again on Thursday following a steady two-month decline as most new cases have been linked to the Delta variant since the end of June, according to official data.

The Berlin-based Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 970 new infections, bringing the total to 3,733,519.

The COVID-19 death toll in Germany increased by 31 in the past day to make the total 91,141 cases.

Germany has stepped up its vaccination campaign as 57.6 percent of the total population has been vaccinated once and 40.8 percent have received their second jab.

While some of the coronavirus restrictions have been lifted, German health officials have said that mandatory mask-wearing and testing should remain in place.