Pedestrians wearing face masks walk on a street in Berlin, capital of Germany, March 22, 2021. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the state governments have agreed that an "emergency brake," or the reversing of the relaxations, would be triggered if the incidence rate of reported COVID-19 cases per 100,000 citizens was above 100 in a state or region for three consecutive days. (Photo by Stefan Zeitz/Xinhua)
BERLIN, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Daily COVID-19 infections in Germany continued to rise on Monday, casting doubts on the relaxations of the current restrictions against the pandemic which has cost 74,714 lives in the country.
A total of 7,709 new cases were registered in one day, taking the national tally to almost 2.67 million since the outbreak of the pandemic, said the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).
The incidence rate of reported COVID-19 cases per 100,000 citizens in the past seven days increased to 107.3 as of Monday, according to the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and the state governments have agreed that an "emergency brake," or the reversing of the relaxations, would be triggered if the incidence rate was above 100 in a state or region for three consecutive days.
Merkel and the minister presidents were scheduled to decide on Monday the next steps as the current restrictions were set to expire on March 28. German media reported on Sunday that the current lockdown was likely to be extended until April 18.
The number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care in Germany has been slightly higher than that during the first wave in spring of 2020, according to the German interdisciplinary association for intensive and emergency medicine (DIVI).
The peak was reached in early January with 5,762 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units and the number stood at 3,056 as of Sunday, according to DIVI's online registry statistics of intensive care beds in German hospitals.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in an increasing number of countries, including Germany, with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.
Globally, 264 candidate vaccines are still being developed -- 82 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain, and the United States, according to information released by WHO on March 16. Enditem
