Germany on Wednesday confirmed 285 COVID-19 fatalities in 24 hours, recording its highest daily death toll from the disease, according to the health authorities.

The 285 new deaths – surpassing the previous record of 266 last Friday – brought the total from 2,969 to 3,254, an increase of 9.6 per cent, Daily mail reported.

The spike in deaths comes despite a slowing infection rate which has prompted scientific advisers to call for a re-opening of schools ‘as soon as possible’.

Germany also has a keen eye on the rate of contagion, known as R, which shows how quickly the virus is spreading.

The rate is currently around 1.2, meaning that each person with the virus infects another 1.2 people on average.

“It is really in our interest that this R rate goes below 1, or is at 1. That is an important factor,” said Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch diseases institute.

On Wednesday, Angela Merkel is due to meet the leaders of Germany’s 16 states to discuss a possible way out of the lockdown.

The country has also closed shops, restaurants, playgrounds and sports facilities, and many companies have shut to aid the fight against the coronavirus.

Berlin mayor Michael Mueller told broadcaster RBB on Tuesday that the lockdown could be relaxed ‘at the earliest from April 27, or possibly from May 1’.

Earlier, Germany had approved a massive and unprecedented financial aid package of 156 billion euro ($166.5 bn), the largest in the country since the Second World War, to offset the socio-economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gatherings of more than two people will be banned in Germany, Merkel said on Sunday, as Europe’s biggest economy toughened restrictions to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Merkel appealed to citizens’ “reason and empathy” in implementing the contact restrictions, saying she had been “very moved” by how closely people had stuck to less stringent

Meanwhile, the deadly coronavirus infection has claimed more than 1,20,000 lives across the world and has infected over 19,36,000 people globally since it first broke out in December 2019.measures implemented in recent days.