German New Virus Cases Fall, Infection Rate Declines Further

(Bloomberg) --

Germany recorded a small decline in the number of new coronavirus cases, while the infection rate fell further below the key threshold of 1.0.

• There were 242 new cases in the 24 hours through Thursday morning, bringing the total to 184,121, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with 285 infections the previous day and almost 7,000 at the peak of the pandemic in late March.
• Fatalities increased by 39 to 8,602. The daily death toll has remained well below 100 since mid-May.
• The reproduction factor of the virus, known as R-naught, fell to 0.71 on Wednesday from 0.89 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 seven 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 health institute.
• The RKI also provides a 7-day R-value, which compensates for fluctuations. That value was 0.83 on Wednesday, down from 0.87 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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