German Infection Rate Lowest in Seven Days, New Cases Steady

(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s coronavirus infection rate fell to the lowest in a week, while the number of new cases remained far below the level at the height of the outbreak.

• The reproduction factor of the virus, known as R-naught, fell to 0.86 on Wednesday, compared with 1.0 the day before, according to the latest daily report by the Robert Koch Institute.
• The government is trying to keep the figure below 1.0 to prevent exponential growth in the number of cases and a second wave of infections.
• NOTE: On Wednesday, a meatpacking plant in the western German city of Guetersloh was ordered to shut after hundreds of workers became infected by the disease, adding to a string of outbreaks at slaughterhouses across Europe.
• There were 352 new infections in the 24 hours through Thursday morning, bringing the total to 188,604 according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with 570 the previous day and almost 7,000 at the peak of the pandemic in late March.
• Fatalities increased by 31 to 8,851. The daily death toll has stayed well below 100 since mid-May.
• The R-0 number represents the course of infection approximately one to two weeks ago and is sensitive to short-term changes, such as local outbreaks, especially if the number of new cases is relatively low, according to the health institute.
• The RKI also provides a seven-day R-value, which compensates for fluctuations. That value was 0.89 on Wednesday, up from 0.86 the previous day.

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