German health minister says pandemic not over

[February 25, 2022]  BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany does not have leeway to ease COVID-19 restrictions more quickly, and Germans should not think that the pandemic is over as the number of new daily infections is still very high, German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Friday.

"We have absolutely no scope for an accelerated opening," Lauterbach said, adding that it was an unacceptable situation that COVID-19 deaths were between 200 and 300 every day.

Germany reported 210,743 new infections on Friday, with the 7-day incidence rate slightly dropping to 1,259.5 infections per 100,000 people, from 1,265 a day earlier.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Miranda Murray)

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