One year after the start of the pandemic, the United States carried out more tests than residents

Border controls – including limits on public transport and mandatory testing and quarantine requirements for travelers – are inevitable as part of efforts to prevent the importation of other, more contagious coronavirus variants, said Friday German Minister of Health Jens Spahn.

Spahn went on to say that – despite the new variants – overall infection rates in Germany are falling.

A little background: German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Thursday that Germany was temporarily imposing border controls and limiting travel from the Czech Republic and the Austrian province of Tyrol due to a spike in news infections. more contagious coronavirus variants. The restrictions take effect Sunday.

Germany recorded on Friday 9,860 new coronavirus infections – a decrease of 3,048 cases from same day last week. Coronavirus deaths in Germany stood at 556 in the past 24 hours – a drop of 299 from Friday last week.

The latest data from the country’s public health authority, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), indicates that the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants could drop below 60 this weekend, Says Spahn.

Starting on Friday, 5.7 million coronavirus vaccines have been distributed in Germany’s 16 federal states, with some 3.6 million vaccinations performed to date. 2,490,423 – 3% of the German population received the first blow, while 1,178,725 received the second blow, according to RKI data. Spahn said Germany will distribute 8 million coronavirus vaccines by the end of next week.

Germany is currently administering the coronavirus vaccines developed by Pfizer / BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.