German officials confirmed that daily COVID-19 cases surpassed 50,000 for the first time during the pandemic, coming weeks after a number of states have implemented “2G” rules that increased restrictions on individuals who haven’t been vaccinated. Under the rules, which have been in effect since September, the states allow businesses like restaurants and bars to choose to exclude individuals who are not vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19. Hamburg, Hesse, Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Lower Saxony, and Baden-Württemberg have opted-in, reported The Local. But on Thursday, the country’s public health body, the Robert Koch Institute, showed that the total case numbers hit 4.89 million with 97,198 fatalities. As a result, Chancellor-in-waiting Olaf Scholz told Parliament on Thursday that new measures are needed “to get through this winter … we must shelter our country from the winter.” Government spokesman Steffen Seibert was quoted by VOA News as saying that the virus is “spreading dramatically” and asserted …