Germany must go into a hard lockdown immediately to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer was quoted as saying. "The only chance to regain control of the situation is a lockdown, but this must happen immediately," Mr Seehofer told Der Spiegel magazine. "If we wait until Christmas, we'll have to struggle with high numbers for months," he added.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 29,875 to 1,272,078, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.
The reported death toll rose by 598 to 20,970. Latest coronavirus stories Chancellor Angela Merkel and the premiers of the 16 federal states will discuss new anti-pandemic measures on Sunday, the