Germany reports over 50,000 new coronavirus cases in a day

Germany recorded 50,196 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, which marks the fourth consecutive day that the country has posted a daily high. The country is being hit with the fourth wave of COVID-19.

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Since the onset of the pandemic the country has recorded 4.89 million and total deaths rose by 235 to 97,198 according to the Robert Koch Institute public health authority.

The institute also reported a hike in the coronavirus seven-day incidence rate (the number of people infected by the virus per 100,000 in the last week). It rose from 249 to 232 on Wednesday.

The President of the association of German local authorities (DLT), Reinhard Sager, urged industries such as catering and events to be stricter towards the checking of customers i.e. whether or not the customers are tested, vaccinated or have recovered from the virus.

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Sager told the Rheinische Post newspaper, “The concern about losing potential customers should be significantly less than the concern about the consequences that threaten if they continue to do too little to fulfil the control obligations.”

Sager asked businesses to recognise that losses can be recovered but the onset of yet another deadly wave will have dire consequences. He is unhappy with the lack of seriousness shown by certain industries to fulfil control obligations.

A nationwide state of emergency will not be declared at this moment in spite of the wave of infections being reported every day. The decision was agreed upon by the three German parties that are hoping to form a coalition government by early December.

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They presented a draft law on Monday to make the use of face masks and social distancing in public spaces a compulsion until next March. It will be presented to the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, on Thursday.