Germany hits new Coronavirus infection record

Germany hit a new record for daily infections on Thursday, on the second day of tough new restrictions. More than 30,400 people were confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute. The number is slightly higher than initially reported due to delays reporting from one state. This is the first time that Germany has exceeded 30,000 new cases in one day. In view of the rising numbers, the federal government is stepping up its vaccination efforts. Health Minister Jens Spahn announced that the vaccination program was to begin immediately after Christmas. However, a new survey found that just 47% of German citizens want to be vaccinated as soon as possible — too few for herd immunity, for which a threshold of 60% applies. The Forsa survey, commissioned by RTL and ntv, found that 40% of respondents wanted to wait before vaccinating; while 11% said they would reject the vaccination entirely.