Coronavirus-related death toll passes 50,000 in Germany

The death toll from the coronavirus in Germany has passed 50-thousand, a number that has risen swiftly over recent weeks even as infection figures are finally declining.

The country’s disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, said Friday that another 859 deaths were reported over the past 24 hours, taking the total so far to 50,642.

"These are the official figures, and this is a depressing number," said Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute. "And this is why it's really essential that we continue to implement the measures we have in place to contain the virus."

Germany had a comparatively small number of deaths in the pandemic’s first phase and was able to lift many restrictions quickly.

But it has seen much higher levels of infections in the fall and winter.

Hundreds of deaths, sometimes more than 1,000, have been reported daily in the country of 83 million people over recent weeks.

Germany's current lockdown was extended this week until February 14 amid concern about the possible impact of virus mutations such as the one first detected in England.