Berlin, Jan 29 (IANS): Germany has kept control over the Covid-19 pandemic situation despite the latest outbreak caused by the new Omicron variant, Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach said.

"We had expected high case numbers," said Lauterbach, stressing that the current numbers are below those predicted by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, reports Xinhua news agency.

However, Germany's seven-day Covid-19 incidence rate has continued to surge, hitting a new record of 1,073 infections per 100,000 inhabitants on Friday.

The previous day, the number had stood at 1,017.4, RKI reported.

On Friday, 190,148 new cases were registered, around 50,000 more than a week ago.

The day before, daily infections hit 200,000 for the first time.

"Case numbers continue to rise massively, but in fact they are rising nowhere near as sharply as they could under Omicron," said RKI President Lothar Wieler.

Meanwhile, Lauterbach said that so far, the country has "succeeded in protecting the elderly well" through Covid-19 measures.

However, he once again called on the German population to get their booster vaccinations.

Lauterbach is calling for the rapid introduction of a general vaccination requirement in Germany, in order to prevent a "serious relapse" in the fall.

Till date, 73.8 per cent of the German population had been fully vaccinated, while 52.2 per cent, or some 43.4 million people, had received a booster shot, according to official data.