Berlin (dpa) - Germany is set to enter lockdown in the coming days in response to soaring coronavirus infections, according to a draft plan seen by dpa ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel's meeting with the nation's 16 state premiers on Sunday.

The document, sent to dpa by various sources, proposes closing all but essential shops from Wednesday until January 10, while also recommending considerable restrictions to schools and kindergartens.

The plan is said to have been agreed with several states individually during preparatory talks with the federal government on Saturday.

Sunday's video conference is expected to start at 10 am (0900 GMT). Merkel and other top officials are pushing for a nationwide response, although Germany's federal system of government often leads to a patchwork of rules across the country.

The states were able to agree to a partial lockdown in early November, which forced all bars, restaurants and leisure facilities to close and largely imposed a two-household limit on gatherings, while shops and schools stayed open.

But the measures have largely failed. Germany has registered grim new records in the pandemic in recent days and hospitals in some regions are reaching capacity.

Debate has centred on not if but when a lockdown should come into effect, amid a growing chorus of support for measures to kick in before Christmas.

"Our society has to get ready for a hard lockdown, and the way it's shaping up, more likely before Christmas than after Christmas," Winfried Kretschmann, premier of the south-western state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, said on Saturday.

There has also been discussion on whether and to what extent the rules should be relaxed over the holiday season.

The draft plan proposes that states allow between December 24-26 "meetings with five persons plus children aged 14 years or younger in the immediate family circle."

This would include spouses and other partners, as well as siblings and their children, and could be more than the two households currently allowed.

For the entirety of the proposed lockdown, "children should be cared for at home whenever possible," the document says.

On Friday, the country's coronavirus case count and death toll surged at their fastest rates yet, with 29,875 new coronavirus infections and 598 deaths reported by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for disease control.

On Sunday, the RKI reported 20,200 new cases, bringing the total number of infections confirmed in the pandemic so far to 1,320,716. The death toll increased by 321 to reach 21,787.

The numbers tend to be slightly lower on Sundays, due in part to a lull in testing over the weekend.