(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s daily coronavirus deaths jumped the most in more than five months as lawmakers debate how to rein in the fourth wave of the pandemic.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz -- the Social Democrat aiming to be sworn in to succeed her next month -- will hold a video conference with state leaders on Thursday to discuss the next steps. 

The new coalition, which includes the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats, is planning to introduce legislation later this week that would impose tougher curbs on people who haven’t gotten Covid shots, including requiring tests to go to work and take public transportation. 

“That is in reality a lockdown for the unvaccinated that’s on the way,” Dirk Wiese, deputy caucus leader for the SPD in German parliament, said on ZDF television on Tuesday.  

With less than 70% fully immunized against the disease, Europe’s biggest economy is lagging western peers such as Spain, Italy and Portugal on vaccine uptake, helping to catapult Germany into a devastating new outbreak. Daily infection rates are breaking records set last winter when the population was mostly defenseless against Covid-19.

The country’s Robert Koch Institute on Tuesday reported yet another increase in the nationwide contagion rate. Cases over the past seven days climbed to a record 312.4 per 100,000 people. Deaths jumped by 265, the steepest one-day increase since May 27.

Germany’s latest response has been slowed by a change in power, with Merkel in a caretaker role while negotiations on a new government continue. 

The potential ruling coalition parties are resisting a blanket lockdown and opting for new legislation with greater powers for German states to impose restrictions. Current extraordinary measures are being allowed to expire on Nov. 25.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.