OREANDA-NEWS. The latest surge of COVID-19 is worse than anything Germany has experienced so far, said Acting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, adding that the situation is «extremely dramatic».

The Chancellor called for stricter restrictions to help contain the spread of infection. Otherwise, hospitals will soon be overcrowded if the fourth wave of the virus is not overcome. She said that many citizens do not seem to understand the seriousness of the situation, and that vaccination alone will not be enough. She called on 16 federal states, which mostly determine their own policies to limit the pandemic, to tighten restrictions this week.

The growth of COVID-19 infections in Germany is increasing: according to the Robert Koch National Institute, the incidence index (the number of new cases of coronavirus per 100,000 people per week) on November 22 is 386.5, last Friday it was 340.7. Over the past day, 30,643 new infections were registered in Germany - 7,000 more than a week earlier. 62 more people died from the effects of coronavirus infection. During the entire pandemic in Germany, 99,124 people died from COVID-19.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn, amid controversy over whether the authorities have enough coronavirus vaccines, rejected accusations that he is deliberately holding onto the most popular BioNTech vaccine in Germany to promote the Moderna vaccine, which expires at the beginning of 2022. He stressed that by the end of the year Germany has a stock of 50 million doses of mRNA vaccines and that this amount, according to the Punks, is enough to vaccinate everyone.