Germany's coronavirus infection rate has risen to its highest level since the start of the pandemic, public health figures showed on Monday.

Iran PressEurope: The country has seen 201.1 new cases per 100,000 residents over the last week; the previous high was 197.6 in December last year.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 4,782,546 from 4,767,033 a day earlier. The number of deaths increased by 33 to a total of 96,558.

The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease control center, said on Monday that 15,513 new cases had been reported over the past 24 hours — down from a record 37,120 on Friday. Figures are often lower after the weekend.

Germany has struggled to find ways to boost its much-slowed vaccination campaign. At least 67% of the country's 83 million population is fully vaccinated, according to official figures.

Germany has already had to relocate some patients from regions with overburdened hospitals.

The three German parties in talks to form a coalition government by early December have agreed not to extend a nationwide state of emergency.

Instead, they presented a draft law late on Monday that would amend existing legislation to allow for measures such as compulsory face masks and social distancing in public spaces to continue to be enforced until March next year.

The draft law is due to be presented to the Bundestag lower house of parliament on Thursday and voted on in a special session a week later

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