Germany crossed the threshold of 100,000 COVID-19-related deaths on Thursday, posing a challenge for the new coalition government.

The number of new daily cases hit a new record of 75,961 Thursday. 

Much of Germany has already introduced rules to restrict access to indoor activities to people who have been vaccinated or have recovered.

With a vaccine rate of just 68.2%, far behind some European countries such as Portugal and Spain, Chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz promised to ramp up vaccinations and did not rule out making it compulsory.