Germany's COVID-19 cases top 159,000

Germany has registered 1,478 new confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, raising its total cases to 159,119, said the federal government's agency for disease control and prevention on Thursday.

The death toll now stands at 6,288, up 173 within the same period, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

At the height of the pandemic in Germany, more than 6,000 new infections were recorded in a single day by the RKI.

On Tuesday, RKI President Lothar Wieler asked his fellow citizens not to jeopardize the results achieved in containing the virus.

"We want to continue to defend this success, and we can do so if we stick to certain rules," he said.

The German government on Wednesday announced that its warning against "unnecessary" international travel would be extended to June 14.

"We must assume that it will take weeks before things return to normal, both here and in other countries," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Wednesday.

(CGTN)