Health minister: Germany has crossed omicron peak

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s health minister says he thinks the country has crossed over the peak of new daily coronavirus cases involving the omicron variant. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach says government measures to curb the infection numbers have been effective, but he warned against relaxing the pandemic rules too hastily. He said Friday in Berlin, “We are not really in safe waters.” Lauterbach noted that as many as 12% of people over age 60 in Germany are still unvaccinated. That’s three to four times higher than the share the vulnerable population that is unvaccinated in comparable countries. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany’s state governors agreed Wednesday to end most of the country’s COVID-19 rules by March 20.