Germany in 'serious' phase of coronavirus pandemic: Angela Merkel

Germany is in a "serious" phase of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of new infections is growing exponentially, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

"We are in the phase of a pandemic, which is serious. We are facing a serious challenge, our task is to be able to trace contacts," Merkel said at a press conference after talks with the heads of the federal states of Germany.

According to the chancellor, the growth in the number of new cases has reached exponential dynamics.

"We are already in the exponential phase, as can be seen from the daily data [on new cases of COVID-19]," Merkel said.

She said Germany, for economic reasons, could not afford a second lockdown.As in other European countries, in Germany in the fall, the number of new coronavirus cases began to grow: in the summer there were several hundred new confirmed cases, but in October several thousand cases are registered per day.

Over the past 24 hours, 5,100 cases have been confirmed. For the entire time of the pandemic, Germany has recorded 334,000 cases of coronavirus, with 9,677 deaths among COVID patients and some 281,000 recoveries.