German Infection Rate Remains Above Key Threshold; Cases Steady

(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s coronavirus infection rate stayed above the key threshold of 1.0, while the number of new cases held steady, remaining far below the thousands seen at the height of the outbreak just over two months ago.

• The reproduction factor of the virus, known as R-naught, was at 1.10 on Tuesday, compared with 1.11 the day before, according to a 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.
• 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.
• There were 397 new cases in the 24 hours through Wednesday morning, bringing the total to 186,506 according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with 359 the previous day and almost 7,000 at the peak of the pandemic in late March.
• Fatalities increased by 41 to 8,736. The daily death toll has remained well below 100 since mid-May.

• The RKI also provides a seven-day R-value, which compensates for fluctuations. That value was 0.90 on Tuesday, up from 0.87 the previous day.

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