German New Cases Fall, Infection Rate Back Above Key Threshold

(Bloomberg) -- Germany recorded a decline in the number of new coronavirus cases, while the infection rate rose above the key threshold of 1.0 for the first time in six days.

• There were 300 new cases in the 24 hours through Monday morning, bringing the total to 185,750, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with 526 the previous day and almost 7,000 at the peak of the pandemic in late March.
• Fatalities increased by 12 to 8,685. The daily death toll has remained well below 100 since mid-May.
• The reproduction factor of the virus, known as R-naught, rose to 1.05 on Sunday from 0.87 the day before, according to the latest estimate from the Robert Koch Institute. That means 10 infected people are estimated to infect an average of around one other person.
• 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.
• 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 7-day R-value, which compensates for fluctuations. That value was 0.92 on Sunday, up from 0.89 the previous day.

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