Germany reports over 100,000 COVID-19 deaths since start of pandemic

People queue to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside a vaccination center in Frankfurt, Germany, on Nov. 25, 2021. The total number of COVID-19 deaths in Germany has climbed to 100,119, as 351 fatal cases were recorded within the last 24 hours, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Thursday. (Xinhua/Lu Yang)

BERLIN, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- The total number of COVID-19 deaths in Germany has climbed to 100,119, as 351 fatal cases were recorded within the last 24 hours, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Thursday.

"100,000 people have lost their lives, and many more children, parents, siblings, partners, friends and colleagues are grieving for them," said acting Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, on Twitter on Thursday.

At the same time, the RKI also recorded a new all-time high of daily COVID-19 infections, as 75,961 cases were reported on Thursday, almost 10,600 more than a week ago. Within one week, the nationwide seven-day incidence rate climbed from 337 to 420.

The number of COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care increased by 132 within 24 hours, reaching 4,202 as of Thursday, according to the online registry of the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (DIVI).

To curb the fourth COVID-19 wave, Germany has ramped up its COVID-19 measures and introduced the so-called 3G rule, which stands for geimpft, getestet, genesen (vaccinated, tested, recovered) and applies in the workplace and on public transport.

Faced with record infection figures, politicians in Germany have also begun openly supporting mandatory vaccination.

"In a dynamic situation, when you are dealing with such a disease, to categorically rule out anything for all the time is out of the question," designated Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann told broadcaster ARD on Thursday.

According to a recent survey by market research institute YouGov, 69 percent of German citizens support a general vaccination obligation, while only 23 percent are against such a measure.

Despite multiple vaccines being widely available, the country's vaccination campaign has slowed down. Germany's vaccination rate has only increased by around two percentage points since the end of October, and stood at 68.2 percent as of Wednesday, according to the RKI.

Vaccination is a "crucial way to prevent much further suffering," stressed Spahn. However, the latest figures gave "some encouragement", he added, with almost 200,000 first vaccinations administered in the last two days, and a new daily record of 626,000 booster vaccinations on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five years and over in Europe. This would be the first coronavirus vaccine approved in the EU for children under the age of twelve.