Germany has registered more than 3 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, according to figures released Monday by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI). The country recorded 13,245 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 3.011 million. Germany has seen new infections rise considerably over recent weeks as a more infectious variant first detected in Britain took hold. The national incidence rate over the last 7 days, which is closely monitored by authorities, stood at 136.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. That is above the threshold due to trigger a tightening of restrictions. But federal and state politicians are struggling to agree on how, or in some cases whether, to toughen coronavirus rules. Over the weekend, Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke out again in favor of a strict national lockdown for a short period of time. Merkel's government also planned to tighten national anti-COVID legislation on Tuesday in order to be able to impose national restrictions, including nighttime curfews, without the backing of regional authorities. The amendment breaks a taboo in German federalism, where regions enjoy extended competencies in the area of health. A leading German health official warned on Sunday that intensive care units had reached their peak occupancy and called for action to contain coronavirus infections. The warning comes as the country's vaccination drive is finally picking up steam. As of April 9, 15.12% of the population had received at least one vaccine dose. While coronavirus indicators have deteriorated in recent months, Germany remains in a better situation than many European neighbors. Daily new confirmed cases per million people in the past week were more than twice lower than in neighboring France, data showed, and significantly lower than the EU average.
