The Robert Koch Institute, the country's disease control centre, said on Thursday that another 389 deaths were recorded overnight, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 15,160.

Germany has seen 983,588 total cases after adding 22,368 overnight, the agency said.

Germany embarked on a so-called "wave-breaker" shutdown on November 2, closing restaurants, bars, sports and leisure facilities but leaving schools, shops and hair salons open.

It was initially slated to last four weeks but Chancellor Angela Merkel and the country's 16 state governors agreed late Wednesday to extend it through December 20 with a goal of pushing the number of new coronavirus cases in each region below 50 per 100,000 inhabitants per week.

It is currently at 140 per 100,000.

Merkel said that while existing measures have succeeded in halting an surge in new coronavirus infections, they have stabilised at a high level.

Australian Associated Press