BERLIN (AP) — Germany's health minister warned Friday that the country is seeing a steady rise in COVID-19 cases as it goes into the fall, and urged older people to get a second booster shot tweaked to protect against new variants.

Other European countries such as France, Denmark and the Netherlands are also recording an increase in cases, Karl Lauterbach told reporters in Berlin.

“We are clearly at the start of a winter wave,” he said.

German officials recorded 96,367 new cases in the past 24 hours, about twice as many as a week ago.

Starting Saturday, Germany's 16 states can again impose pandemic restrictions such as a requirement to wear masks indoors.