Further violent escalations were reported in Mannheim and Ravensburg in the south of Germany.

In Pirmasens on the border to France, two demonstrators attacked a police unit after being told to wear face masks, according to German newswire DPA. 

Germany is grappling with the prospect of another wave of coronavirus infections triggered by the omicron variant, despite reporting declining numbers of infections in recent days.

The country’s leading virologist, Christian Drosten, of Berlin’s Charité hospital, told Germany’s Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that it “remained to be seen when and whether” the measures would work.

He also floated the idea of increased freedoms for those who have been boosted with a third vaccine shot.

Around 70 per cent of Germans have received two doses of vaccine and 35 per cent a booster jab.

Other European countries have also tightened restrictions this week.

France on Monday introduced a raft of new restrictions that include the return of masks outdoors, new mandatory work-from-home rules and a cap on mass gatherings as part of an emergency strategy aimed at curbing runaway Covid-19 infections that set new records over the holidays.

Meanwhile, it was announced that French intensive care nurses will get a monthly 100-euro (£84) bonus as health workers struggle to handle the latest omicron-fuelled wave of Covid-19 infections, citing exhaustion and low pay.

During a visit to an intensive care unit in the Paris region, Prime Minister Jean Castex said over 24,000 health workers will receive the new premium starting in January.

He called the gesture “an indispensable recognition for these services which we obviously need more than ever in the current crisis we are going through with the arrival of the omicron variant.”

But critics slammed the bonus as “too little, too late” after two years of pandemic during which health workers repeatedly protested for better working conditions and higher pay.

“It’s a step in the right direction, but it’s far from what the sector expects,” said Thierry Amouroux, a spokesperson for the National Union of Nurses. “It must be understood that all nurses are underpaid in France.”