BERLIN (AP) — Germany's health minister says the rapid rise in coronavirus cases means it's likely everyone in the country who isn't vaccinated will have caught COVID-19 by the end of the winter, and some of those will die.
"By the end of this winter everyone in Germany will either be vaccinated, recovered, or dead," Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters at a news conference on Monday in Berlin, the BBC reported.
Official figures showed more than 30,000 newly confirmed cases in Germany over the past 24 hours.
Hospitals have warned that ICU capacities are nearly exhausted, with some patients having to be transferred to other clinics far away.
Spahn urged Germans to get vaccinated, including with booster shots if their first round of inoculation occurred more than six months ago, to reduce the risk of serious illness.
Spahn expects the European Union to approve vaccines against COVID-19 for children aged 5-11 at the end of the week.
According to the news outlet, the country is in the grip of its fourth wave of the virus.