Covid-19 infections soar in Berlin

There were also 11 fatalities in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 9,589 since the pandemic began.

271,800 patients have overcome Covid-19 and 2,200 were discharged in the last 24 hours.

North Rhine-Westphalia is the worst-hit region, with 76,796 cases and 1,900 deaths, followed by Bavaria with 71,759 and 2,684 deaths, then Baden-Wuertemberg, with 52,814 cases and 1,898 deaths. Berlin has 17,112 infections and 233 fatalities.

Germany is one of the worst affected countries in Europe after Spain, France, the UK and Italy.

The peak of the pandemic in Germany was between late March and early April and the highest daily rate was 6,294 new cases on March 28. The number of new cases fell before rising again in July and since August more than 2,000 cases a day have been reported on several occasions.

German Health Minister, Jens Spahn has acknowledged that the latest daily increase in cases is "alarming" and concerns him greatly.

"I am just worried, we want to prevent the numbers from growing exponentially,” he said at a news conference in Berlin, but stressed that the German healthcare system has enough capacity to deal with the current situation.

"If the 80 million people work together, the options for the virus will fall dramatically," he said.

Four central districts of Berlin have been declared hot zones for coronavirus infection and Minister Spahn has heavily criticised the residents there for what he called “their ignorant approach to the pandemic" whilst praising local authorities for imposing restrictions on nightlife and meetings.