Dr Guenther Schoenrich, deputy director of the Institute of Virology at the Charite Hospital in Berlin, has told the BBC another lockdown in Germany is inevitable.

"It looks like that we have no choice because the virus is spreading and, as already pointed out, we have a new variant, the variant that has been first detected in the UK, also now here in German," he said.

Dr Schoenrich said it was harder to prevent the the British variant from spreading as it is "more transmissible", adding the situation was exacerbated because "at the same time we have not enough people vaccinated so far".

Partial lockdowns were reintroduced in France and Poland on Saturday, as many European countries face the prospect of a third wave.

Germany is seeing an exponential rise in cases, with infections on the Czech border more than 15 times the government's target.

(Source: BBC)