Berlin (dpa) - The German Finance Ministry plans to spend another 2.11 billion euros (2.28 billion dollars) on protective and respiratory equipment in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic, according to a document seen by dpa.

"The budget is needed to combat the outbreak of coronavirus in order to maintain health services," Bettina Hagedorn, the ministry's parliamentary state secretary, wrote in a letter to the budget committee.

The need for protective clothing, respiratory equipment and antiviral medicines is increasing in Germany together with the rate of infections, with at least 15,030 cases now confirmed, 44 of them fatal, according to dpa's own tally.

Hagedorn warned of "extreme bottlenecks in supply with simultaneously rising prices."

In her letter, she recommended an overhaul in Germany's federal system, placing distribution of health supplies in the hands of the central government rather than at local level.

Available stocks must be bought up immediately in order to prevent foreign buyers from purchasing much-needed supplies, she added.