German health minister expects virus surge around New Year’s

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health minister says he expects a surge in coronavirus cases around the New Year period, as the national disease control center says the country has now recorded its first death of someone with the new omicron variant. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said Thursday that Germany hasn’t seen a big, rapid wave of new infections sparked by the omicron variant that’s already hit European countries such as Britain. He said that this would change “around New Year and in the first week of January.” The national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said that 3,198 COVID-19 cases in Germany were attributed to omicron as of Wednesday, a 25% increase compared with the previous day.