Berlin, Mar 26 (IANS): Daily Covid-19 infections in Germany rose sharply as 22,657 new cases were registered within one day, about 5,100 more than one week ago, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said on Thursday.

The country's seven-day Covid-19 incidence rate also rose from 108.1 per 100,000 people in the previous day to 113.3 Thursday, according to the federal government agency for disease control and prevention, Xinhua news agency reported.

To date, Germany has recorded more than 2.71 million cases and 75,440 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to the RKI.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said during her speech in the German Bundestag that the emergence of the B.1.1.7 (the Covid-19 variant that was first detected in Britain), which became dominant in the country, was a "major setback" in the fight against the pandemic.

"We are back in the phase of exponential growth," Merkel said.

Germany just extended its current Covid-19 lockdown until at least April 18. A complete five-day lockdown over the Easter holidays, however, was cancelled one day after it was announced.

As of Wednesday, more than 3.6 million people had been fully vaccinated in Germany, bringing the country's vaccination rate to 4.3 per cent, according to the RKI.