Germany’s Infection Rate Falls Further Below Key Threshold

(Bloomberg) -- Germany’s new coronavirus cases held below 1,000, and the infection rate dropped further beneath the key threshold of 1.0.

• There were 672 new cases in the 24 hours through Friday morning, bringing the total to 182,196, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with 324 the previous day and almost 7,000 at the peak of the outbreak in late March.
• Fatalities increased by 42 to 8,470. The daily death toll has remained below 100 for about two weeks.
• The reproduction factor of the virus, known as R-naught, fell to 0.61 on Thursday from 0.68 the day before, according to the latest estimate from the Robert Koch Institute.
• This means 10 infected people are estimated to infect an average of around six others. The number represents the course of infection approximately one to two weeks ago, according to the health institute.
• The RKI also provides a 7-day R-value, which compensates for fluctuations. That value was 0.78 on Thursday, up from 0.76 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.

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