Merkel urges unvaccinated to reconsider as 7-day Covid incidence rate hits record

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged unvaccinated people to reconsider their decision in a video message as the country's seven-day coronavirus incidence rate has risen to the highest level since the pandemic began, Reuters reports.

"Difficult weeks lie ahead of us, and you can see that I am very worried," Merkel said, speaking in her weekly video podcast. "I urgently ask everyone who has not yet been vaccinated: please reconsider."

Germany's seven-day incidence rate — the number of people per 100,000 to be infected over the last week — has risen to 277.4, data from the Robert Koch Institute shows. The record in the third wave of the pandemic last December was 197.6.

Germany's acting Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures as she attends a session of the German lower house of Parliament, Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, November 11. — Reuters
Germany's acting Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures as she attends a session of the German lower house of Parliament, Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, November 11. — Reuters

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