Germany's parliament adopts tougher COVID measures

BERLIN (AA) - Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, adopted tougher coronavirus measures on Thursday, as new infections reached the highest level since the beginning of the pandemic.

The legislation put forward by the prospective coalition partners, the Social Democrats, Greens, and Free Democrats, provides a legal basis for further restrictions, especially for unvaccinated people.

The new set of measures included a workplace requirement in which employees will have to present proof of vaccination, recovery from the virus, or a negative test before coming to work.

Depending on the infection rate, federal states will be able to only allow people who have been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 to have access to restaurants, bars or cultural events.

Regional authorities may also require passengers on public transport to be vaccinated, recovered, tested negative.

To better protect older individuals from COVID-19, testing will be obligatory for staff and visitors in nursing homes, including for those vaccinated or recovered from the disease.

The new legislation still needs to be approved by the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house of parliament, which is scheduled to discuss the measures on Friday.

Germany on Thursday hit its highest daily number of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began last year, as officials warned that many hospitals were now at the limits of their capacity.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 65,371 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, and 264 more virus-related deaths.

Active cases in the country climbed to 532,600, marking a new high in the current fourth wave of the pandemic, according to the official data.

There were 3,376 seriously ill coronavirus patients in intensive care units on Wednesday, with 1,710 of them on mechanical ventilators.

Coronavirus infections in Germany soared in recent weeks, as people spend more time indoors during the colder months, and a large part of the population remains unvaccinated.

The government's goal has been to vaccinate at least 75% of people to prevent an exponential rise in new infections.

But as of Thursday, 56.4 million people, or just 67.8% of the country's population, have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Germany's overall vaccination rate also lags behind many other EU members, including Portugal, Spain, and Italy.