The rate of vaccination against the coronavirus had declined slightly in Germany.

This is just as more infectious Delta variant became the predominant strain, an official of disease control body reported on Thursday.

Over the week to Sunday, an average of 710,000 shots was administered across the country every day, down from 800,500 the week before, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said.

The week before that was higher still, at more than 820,000 shots per day.

The Delta variant is held responsible for 59 percent of infections during the week to June 27, with its share of the total almost doubling over the previous week.

The RKI said it was likely the variant was by now behind two-thirds of all infections.

By contrast, the Alpha variant declined from 91 percent at the end of May to 33 percent at the end of June.

Other variants were as yet not significant in Germany.

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In the face of calls for restrictions to be eased, Christine Falk, president of the German immunologists association, called for masks to be worn and other rules to be observed.

“If we do nothing, this thing will go through the roof,’’ she said.

Falk pointed to the evidence from Australia that the Delta variant was transmitted more readily than Alpha.