Around 20,000 staff in hospitals, aged care, and nursing homes have contracted the novel coronavirus in Germany, accounting for around 11 per cent of total cases in the country, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported on Tuesday.

At the height of the disease outbreak in mid-April, more than 230 doctors, nurses and employees in the healthcare industry were testing positive for the virus daily, the newspaper reported, citing data from the government’s Robert Koch Institute (RKI).

The data showed at least 894 people from the health sector had to be treated as hospital in-patients, while at least 60 had died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

The real numbers could be higher, as staff were only tested for the virus sporadically, according to the report.

The institute acknowledged it was not aware of how extensive testing in facilities was.

By Monday, more than 175,100 coronavirus infections had been registered in Germany, while at least 7,974 people had died.

This is according to an analysis by dpa, which takes into account the latest figures from German states. (dpa/NAN)