Germany on Friday used a military plane to transfer intensive care patients to less afflicted regions, an unprecedented move as a fourth wave of the epidemic fills hospital wards.
A specially equipped Airbus 310 medical transport plane took off from Memmingen in the hard-hit state of Bavaria and headed for the Muenster Osnabrueck airport in the west of the country, a German air force spokesman said.
Patients in overstretched intensive care units are being moved to clinics that still have capacity for critically ill people, based on an emergency plan devised earlier in the pandemic.
In particular, a ferocious fourth wave of Covid 19 has ravaged the south and southeast of the EU's most populous country.
The situation is serious and more serious than at any other point in the pandemic, Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters Friday that he called for regional and local authorities to tighten shutdown measures under Germany's federalist system.
The defence ministry spokesman said that six intensive care beds would be filled on the first flight, with further planes on stand-by.
Germany has passed the milestone of 100,000 deaths from the coronaviruses since the beginning of the outbreak, as daily infections continue to shatter records.
On Friday, the Robert Koch Institute infectious disease centre reported 76,414 cases in 24 hours, while the seven-day incidence per 100,000 people reached 438.2 -- both new highs.
Spahn and other officials are calling for a next crisis meeting between federal and state leaders on December 9 to be moved forward to approve new measures.
The outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel, who is expected to hand over the reins early next month, warned that every day counts as she urged more contact restrictions to fight the disease.