German Virus Infection Rate Drops Further, New Cases Remain Low

(Bloomberg) --

Germany’s coronavirus infection rate dropped further below the key threshold of 1.0, while the number of daily cases remained far below the thousands seen at the height of the crisis more than two months ago.

• There were 351 new cases in the 24 hours through Friday morning, bringing the total to 184,472, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with 242 infections the previous day and almost 7,000 at the peak of the pandemic in late March.
• Fatalities increased by 33 to 8,635. The daily death toll has remained well below 100 since mid-May.
• The reproduction factor of the virus, known as R-naught, fell to 0.57 on Thursday from 0.71 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 less than six others.
• The 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 public health institute.
• The RKI also provides a 7-day R-value, which compensates for fluctuations. That value was 0.80 on Thursday, down from 0.83 the previous day.
• 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.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.