BERLIN — Germany has hit another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, reporting a total of more than 1 million confirmed cases of COVID-19.
The country’s disease control center said Friday that Germany’s 16 states reported 22,806 cases overnight for a national total of 1,006,394 since the start of the pandemic.
However, Germany has reported fewer virus-related deaths than many other European countries: 15,586 compared with more than 50,000 in Britain, Italy and France.
The country is almost a month in to a so-called “wave-breaker” shutdown instituted Nov. 2 after daily cases rose to new record highs. Officials say the new measures have succeeded in halting the surge.
But Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors decided earlier this week to extend the shutdown well into December and add more restrictions to try to bring the numbers down to below 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants each week.