Germany has recorded more than 50,000 deaths from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic a year ago, said the Robert Koch Institute, the country's federal institution responsible for disease prevention and control, on Friday.

It said 859 people have died from the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 50,642. Germany this week extended its partial lockdown until February 14, and Chancellor Angela Merkel has not ruled out border checks to rein in the spread of new, more contagious variants of the virus.

(With input from AFP)