Germany on Wednesday recorded a new daily record for coronavirus contamination, with more than 160,000 cases detected in the past 24 hours.

The country’s public health body Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has registered 164,000 new cases and 166 deaths related to Kovid-19 in the last 24 hours.

More than 1.53 million people are currently affected by the virus, the heaviest toll since the start of the pandemic.

According to RKI, the Omicron variant is responsible for at least 89% of coronavirus cases in the country.

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said on Twitter that people should not underestimate the Omicron version as recent data shows the number of hospitalizations is on the rise again.

“We should be concerned about this development,” he warned. According to health experts, new infections are expected to increase in the next few weeks, peaking in mid-February.

(with MAP) 7tv