BERLIN, Jan 19, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Germany has registered more than 100,000
new Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours, according to data released by
the country's public health agency on Wednesday.

  Europe's biggest economy recorded 112,323 coronavirus cases over the last
24 hours and 239 fatalities, the Robert Koch Institute said.

  The weekly incidence rate reached 584.4 new infections per 100,000 people
over seven days, the agency added.

  Germany has further tightened curbs to cut contamination, limiting access
to bars and restaurants to people who have received their booster jabs or who
are tested on top of being fully vaccinated or recovered.

  Contact restrictions are also in place keeping private gatherings to 10
people, or two households if an unvaccinated person is present.

  Germany's record rise in coronavirus cases comes as Omicron has become the
dominant variant, accounting for more than 70 percent of new infections.

  Other European countries are also battling soaring Omicron rates, with
neighbouring France recently averaging around 300,000 cases daily.

  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is seeking to introduce compulsory
vaccinations to ramp up the immunity of the 83-million-strong population, of
which 60 million are fully vaccinated.

  But resistance has been growing in the country where the BioNTech-Pfizer
vaccine was first developed, with the business-friendly FDP party -- junior
partners in his coalition -- casting doubt on the project.

  Hundreds, at times thousands, of protesters have also been taking to the
streets to rail against the government's Covid strategy and planned vaccine
mandate.

  Despite the dissent, Scholz insisted that vaccinations are necessary.

  "I, for one, believe that it is necessary and will actively push for it,"
Scholz told parliament last week at his first question time as chancellor.