Germany has crossed the sombre threshold of 100,000 COVID-19-related deaths with a surge in infections posing a challenge for the new government.

Another 351 people have died from coronavirus, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 100,119, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed. The number of new daily cases hit a new record of 75,961, Reuters reported.

Hospitals in some areas, especially in eastern and southern Germany, are under pressure and leading virologist Christian Drosten warned that another 100,000 could die in the pandemic.

The head of the Robert Koch Institute has put the mortality rate at about 0.8 per cent, meaning that at daily case numbers around 50,000, some 400 people per day will end up dying.