The situation in Germany's hospitals is “extremely difficult” due to new coronavirus infections, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 9,847 to 1,775,513, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed.

But Seibert said it is hard to get an accurate picture of the Covid-19 situation at the moment as reported cases are probably incomplete due to the holidays.