Germany hits 5,000 daily COVID-19 cases, first in six months

Staff wearing face shields and gloves serve people enjoying a drink in Belfast city centre. File pic/AFP

The number of newly reported coronavirus cases in Germany has passed 5,000 for the first time since mid-April. The country's disease control agency, the Robert Koch Institute, said on Wednesday that a further 5,132 infections and 43 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded over the past day.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is meeting the governors of Germany's 16 states Wednesday to discuss which measures to take in response to the growing case load. Officials are particularly concerned that COVID-19 infections might increase among older people, who are more likely to suffer serious illnesses.

So far, some 620 people in Germany are receiving intensive care treatment for COVID-19. Since the start of the pandemic, Germany has recorded a total of 334,585 coronavirus infections. There have been 9,677 deaths in the country from COVID-19.

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The second nationwide lockdown in Israel, imposed last month, dealt a new blow to an economy already hit hard by the first round of restrictions. The fallout from the pandemic has also deepened long-simmering divisions among Israeli Jews, pitting a largely secular majority against a powerful ultra-Orthodox minority.

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