German chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that the new coronavirus variants pose the risk of a “third wave” that could only be prevented if authorities were able to once again track and trace all new cases, Euronews reports.

Merkel noted, however, that the infection rate had dropped from 110 in just over two weeks and added that the government’s key target was “in sight.”

“We can be very satisfied,” said Merkel, expressing thanks to those who had helped drive down numbers by respecting lockdown rules and refraining from travel and unnecessary contacts.

Merkel and the country’s 16 governors decided Wednesday, February 10 to largely extend the country’s coronavirus lockdown until March 7 amid concern that new virus variants could reverse a decline in new confirmed cases.

On Wednesday, Germany's Robert Koch Institute reported the country had 8,072 new virus cases and 813 deaths in 24 hours. In all, Germany has seen more than 63,000 confirmed virus deaths during the pandemic.

The weekly number of new infections has dropped to 68 per 100,000 inhabitants. The government’s goal is to push the number below 50 to enable reliable contact-tracing. It peaked at nearly 200 just before Christmas.