The daily number of COVID-19 cases in Germany has reached a new all-time high, with 39,676 cases registered in one day, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said on Wednesday.

The seven-day incidence rate also rose to 232.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, peaking for the third day in a row, according to the German disease control and prevention agency.

"We are mostly experiencing, at least in the intensive care units in hospitals, a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and that puts the system under stress once again," Health Minister Jens Spahn told broadcaster RTL/ntv.

According to the German Intensive Care Availability Register (DIVI), the number of COVID-19 patients requiring treatment in intensive care units reached 2,739 on Wednesday.

Although more than 300,000 COVID-19 vaccinations were administered in Germany on Tuesday, and a total of around three million Germans have now received a booster dose, Spahn said on Twitter:"The direction is right, but not enough to break the momentum yet."

Also on Wednesday, the Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) issued a new recommendation that people under 30 years of age should be vaccinated exclusively with BioNTech/Pfizer.

STIKO said that heart muscle inflammation and pericarditis were "observed more frequently" in boys and young men, as well as in girls and young women under 30 years of age, after vaccination with Moderna than after vaccination with BioNTech/Pfizer.