Germany’s New Virus Cases Drop Below 1,000, Deaths Accelerate

(Bloomberg) --

The number of new coronavirus cases in Germany fell below 1,000 for the first time in more than five weeks and the daily death toll picked up slightly, as the nation considers a further cautious easing of restrictions on public life.

Fatalities rose by 150 to 6,126 in the 24 hours through Tuesday morning, compared with Monday’s increase of 99, which was the smallest in a month, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. There were 988 new infections, the lowest since March 19, bringing the total to 158,758, the fourth highest in Europe behind Spain, Italy and France.

Chancellor Angela Merkel is due to consult with state premiers on Thursday on the next steps in tackling the pandemic. Lower Saxony Premier Stephan Weil on Monday warned against expecting too much, saying it’s too early to know what impact the initial easing of curbs has had on infection numbers.

European leaders are eager to restart economies after lockdown measures shuttered factories, halted travel and kept millions of people largely confined to their homes.

Merkel has identified the reproduction factor -- known by epidemiologists as R-naught -- as a means of gauging how successfully countries have kept the virus in check and how much stress it could place on health services.

Germany’s latest R0 edged up to 1.0 on Monday, from 0.9 the previous day, according to the latest situation report from the country’s public health authority. That means that each person with the virus infects an average of 1.0 other people.

German retailers expect as many as 50,000 insolvencies due to the crisis, Stefan Genth, head of the country’s HDE retailers lobby, told the Funke media group Tuesday.

“In the four weeks of closures in the non-food sector, we lost around 30 billion euros in sales, which we are not getting back,” Genth said. Even after most shops were allowed to reopen, the industry’s daily sales losses are in the high three-digit millions, he said.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.