Health

Germany sets record for coronavirus cases amid warnings of tougher lockdowns

Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), Dec 10 (EFE), (Camera: Philipp Guelland).- Lothar Wieler, the president of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s disease control center, appealed for an even greater reduction in people’s social contacts to avoid a tougher lockdown.Wieler was speaking a day after chancellor Angela Merkel made an impassioned speech to parliament calling for greater attention to be paid to public health guidelines.If people cannot reduce their contacts by more than 60 percent, "I see no other possibility" than hardening the measures, Wieler told a press conference where he announced a new “sad record” of 23,679 daily infections had been set.He pointed out that the current 40 percent reduction of contacts was “not enough”, adding that they need to be reduced to well over 60 percent, to bring it in line with the situation in spring, when Germany navigated the pandemic's first wave with relative success compared to other European countries.FOOTAGE OF A VACCINATION CENTRE IN GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN (GERMANY).