(Reuters) - Germany's interior minister said on Thursday that 45% more people had been expelled at Germany's land borders over the past seven days, when the new government stepped up border checks.

Speaking at the border in the southern state of Bavaria that borders Austria, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said 739 attempts of "illegal entry" had been blocked, compared with 511 expulsions over the previous week.

He added that "vulnerable groups" would still be allowed to apply for asylum and that Germany was working with other European Union countries to reform the bloc's asylum system so that border checks within the EU would no longer be necessary.

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, Editing by Friederike Heine)