Chancellor Angela Merkel has reinforced a message to Germans to curb social contacts and keep travel to a minimum as coronavirus infections continued to rise.

If Germans reduce contacts “we will all together meet the massive challenge that this virus poses,” she said in a statement.

While Germany has not been hit as hard by the virus as most other European nations, daily infections in the country are on the rise and surpassed 10,000 for the first time this week. The total number of deaths have exceeded 10,000.