Customers wearing face masks walk out of a store in Berlin, capital of Germany, on Aug. 5, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

Germany's incoming coalition parties unveiled fresh proposals on Monday to fight the country's COVID-19 resurgence, as the weekly rate of new coronavirus infections hit an all-time high.

Germany registered an incidence rate of 201.1 new cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said, surpassing the previous record of 197.6 reached on December 22, 2020. 

The surge in cases, blamed on the nation's relatively low vaccination rate, has prompted widespread alarm in recent weeks as hospital beds fill up rapidly.

Underlining the urgency, the three parties striving to form Germany's next coalition government following September's general election presented a raft of pandemic-fighting proposals - despite not officially being in power yet.

The Social Democrats, the Greens and the liberal FDP released draft legislation that will give Germany's 16 regional states a legal framework to tame the fourth wave of the pandemic.

The goal is "to protect as many people as possible during the autumn and winter months," said Dirk Wiese, deputy leader of the Social Democrats' parliamentary group.

The plan includes the possibility to exclude unvaccinated people from some indoor events, stricter prevention measures in the workplace, and the option of requiring PCR tests instead of rapid tests.

The incoming coalition partners also want to reintroduce free coronavirus testing, after it was dropped in October as it failed to spur enough unvaccinated people to get the jab.

AFP