German health minister still sees ‘critical’ COVID situation

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health minister is pleading with his compatriots not to assume that the coronavirus pandemic is over as the country sees a steady rise in new cases. He is warning that it is still in a “critical” situation. Germany had seen COVID-19 cases decline last month, but official figures have now shown the infection rate increasing for nine consecutive days. Officials point to the spread of a version of the omicron variant known as BA.2, which by this week accounted for half of cases in Germany, and to the relaxation of restrictions. On Friday, the national disease control center said more than 250,000 new cases had been reported in the past 24 hours, along with 249 deaths.