Greece's health minister says music will be banned at all commercial venues for New Year's celebrations as part of new restrictions announced in response to a surge in COVID-19 infections fueled by the omicron variant.

The restrictions, originally planned to take effect on Jan. 3, will start early Thursday, but Entertainment venues will be allowed to stay open until 2 a.m. for New Year's Eve.

Included in the measures are the mandatory use of face masks at supermarkets and public transport, beside additional work-from-home orders for government employees.

The daily number of infections rocketed to nearly 22,000 on Tuesday, more than double the record number reported the previous day.

"Omicron is now the dominant variant in terms of new infections,'' Greek Health Minister Thanos Plevris said during a livestreamed briefing.

Germany's Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is urging Germans to spend the New Year period "very cautiously'' and celebrate only in very small groups, as new restrictions took place in recent days including limiting private gatherings to 10 people. Large-scale New Year's celebrations have been canceled.

Germany's statistics have continued to show the infection rate drifting downward from a spike caused by the delta variant.

Health Minister said that "the underreporting is probably of the order that the actual incidence is currently two or three times as high as the incidence we are measuring.''

He said that "we are also seeing a significant increase in omicron cases that causes us concern.''

On Wednesday, official data showed 40,043 reported new cases over the past 24 hours and an infection rate, or incidence, of 205.5 new cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days.

Poland reported a new daily toll of 794 deaths from COVID-19 on Wednesday, a record high in the latest wave of infection, though a number that also reflects some delayed reporting due to Christmas.

The deputy health minister, Waldemar Kraska, said that the number of new infections had declined by about 13% over the last week but that another wave fuelled by the omicron variant is still expected to hit the country next month.

The previous record for deaths during what is widely referred to as the fourth wave was 775 on Dec. 22, while the highest daily rate came in at 954 deaths on April 8, when central Europe was a global hot spot of infection.

To date, the nation of 38 million people has recorded over 4 million infections and a total of 95,707 deaths.

Spain's prime minister has ruled out any immediate national restrictions in response to the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said official data shows that even though omicron spreads more quickly, it has generally caused milder symptoms and therefore put less pressure on Spain's hospitals than previous strains. He also cited the country's high vaccination rate of over 80%.

"It's clear that we are in a situation radically different,'' Sanchez told reporters during his year-end press conference. "We are better and more prepared to confront the omicron variant.''

Sanchez confirmed that a panel of regional chiefs and central health authorities would debate a proposal to shorten the mandatory isolation period from 10 to 5 days, for individuals who test positive but display no COVID-19 symptoms.

Health Ministry data showed Spain confirmed 100,000 new infections on Tuesday, bringing the 14-day infection rate to 1,360 cases per 100,000 residents, nearly twice the level from a week earlier.

France's government is forging ahead with efforts to increase pressure on unvaccinated people to get coronavirus jabs, as the omicron variant fuels a record surge in infections.

At a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday afternoon, the health minister plans to introduce "vaccine pass", rather than new lockdowns.

French government plan to allow only fully vaccinated individuals access to places such as restaurants, cinemas, theaters, museums, and sports arenas, in a try to soften the impact of the omicron variant on already overburdened hospitals.

France reported nearly 180,000 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, a daily record, and is bracing for the number to keep increasing, with forecasts warning of more than 250,000 daily infections likely by January.

France has vaccinated more than 75% of its population and is rushing out booster shots, but more than 4 million adults in the country remain unvaccinated.

The government wants the vaccine pass requirement to be in place by mid-January. If approved by parliament, the plan would mean that unvaccinated people will no longer be able to use negative test results to visit places where the pass is required.