Germany loses grip of downward trend in new coronavirus cases
The number of new coronavirus cases reported daily in Germany is no longer in decline, disease control officials say in their latest report, in a blow to the country as it gradually lifts restrictions aimed at curbing the virus.
The report from the government’s Robert Koch Institute released late Monday shows the reproduction number – the average number of people each infected person passes the virus on to – has ticked up to 1.0.
The figure had hovered at 0.9 in recent days, with officials stressing that the country will regress back into an exponential spread if it edges above 1.
Many small and medium-sized shops reopened across Germany last week and the majority of states are to gradually allow pupils to return to school from May 4, but the new data comes as a blow to the efforts to slowly reboot public and economic life.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly stressed that Germany’s gains against the novel coronavirus, which has infected over 156,200 people in the country and led to at least 5,842 deaths, are “fragile.”
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She has urged citizens to stick to strict social-distancing measures that are still in place, limiting them to meeting only one other person from outside their household at a distance of 1.5 metres.
Meanwhile, all of Germany’s 16 federal states have made mouth-and-nose coverings compulsory in public spaces such as shops and on public transport. (dpa)
