Merkel agrees new rules on masks and bar closings

Chancellor Angela Merkel and the governors of Germany's 16 states have agreed to tighten mask-wearing rules and make bars close early in areas where coronavirus infection rates are high.

Wednesday's meeting came hours after the country reported more than 5,000 infections in one day for the first time since mid-April.

While Germany is still in better shape than many other European countries, infections have accelerated rapidly in recent weeks.

"We must therefore prevent further uncontrolled or exponential growth, and we are already in the exponential phase, the daily numbers are showing that," Merkel said.

Officials recommended that mask wearing - already required since April on public transport and in shops - should also be made obligatory in public places where people are packed closely together in districts where there are more than 35 new infections per 100,000 residents per week.

They also called for bars in those districts to be closed early.

In areas where infections top 50 infections per 100,000 people over seven days - until now the point at which local authorities have had to take action - gatherings in public and private parties should be limited to 10 people.

Many of Germany's major cities have exceeded the 50 mark in recent days, among them Berlin, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Munich.

State governments are responsible for imposing and lifting virus-related restrictions.