German Chancellor Angela Merkel has advocated tougher restrictions on public life and pleaded with her compatriots to cut down on socialising as the country reported its highest single-day death toll of the coronavirus pandemic.

Germany is gradually moving toward a tighter lockdown, at least for a limited period after Christmas, as new virus cases remain stubbornly high and are even beginning to creep higher despite a partial shutdown that started on Nov 2.

The national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, reported 590 deaths related to Covid-19 over the past 24 hours more than 100 higher than the week-old previous record. It counted 20,815 new daily infections, compared with 17,270 a week earlier. Germany, which has 83 million people, has now recorded nearly 1.22 million cases, including 19,932 deaths in the pandemic.