Germany has crossed a new threshold in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
More than 100,000 people have died from the disease in the country.
Exactly 100,119 Germans have died of Covid-19 in the country since the start of the pandemic, announced on Thursday the federal health authority (RKI), counting 351 deaths over the last 24 hours.
A former model student, Germany is facing its most violent wave of contamination by the coronavirus as a new government is about to take office.
In one day, the RKI counted 75,961 new contaminations, a new record, at a time when the largest European economy fears a saturation of hospitals.
The seven-day incidence also reached a record, at 419.7 cases per 100,000 population.
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The situation puts in difficulty the new government coalition which will take the head of the country in December, while Germany has weathered the first waves of the pandemic better than other European countries.
69% of the population are vaccinated
The incidence in Germany has, for the first time, exceeded Wednesday the mark of 400 infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days.
Several regions have reinstated strict restrictions to stem the fourth wave of infections, the strongest since the appearance of the virus.
69% of the German population are fully vaccinated, less than in other European countries such as France, where the rate reaches 75%.
"The situation is serious," admitted Wednesday Olaf Scholz, future Social Democratic leader of the government after a coalition agreement with the Greens and the Liberals of the FDP, promising to "do everything" in the face of the pandemic.
The new coalition, however, seems to immediately exclude the idea of national containment.
It relies on the generalization of the health pass in transport and access restrictions for the unvaccinated, for example for cultural places, as well as vaccination.
Germany must "study" a possible "extension" of the vaccination obligation, in force in the army and soon in health facilities, said Olaf Scholz.
A billion euros will also be released in favor of nursing staff and nursing assistants.
Large differences in vaccination between different European countries
The outgoing government of Angela Merkel extended Wednesday until April 2022 the aid granted to companies affected by closures or decreases in income as well as the partial unemployment scheme.
The Covid-19 has killed more than 5.16 million people worldwide since the end of 2019, including nearly 1.5 million in Europe, according to a report established by AFP from official sources. More generally, the Old Continent is by far the region of the world most affected by the pandemic at present, with more than 2.5 million cases and nearly 30,000 deaths recorded in the past week. The trend remains on the rise, especially in countries with the lowest vaccination rates.
According to WHO Europe, Covid-19 could kill 700,000 more on the continent by the spring. The European wave is explained according to the world organization by the combination of the prevalence of the Delta variant, insufficient vaccination coverage and the relaxation of anti-Covid measures. In the European Union, 67.7% of the population has received two doses of the vaccine but the differences are huge between countries. According to figures from Tuesday, only 24.2% of Bulgarians are vaccinated against 86.7% of Portuguese.
The continent must now take "urgent" measures to try to curb the new wave of Covid-19, warned on Wednesday the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Union health agency responsible for epidemics.
Additional restrictions have been put in place in several countries, such as Slovakia or Italy;
France is preparing to announce new measures on Thursday.
