The coronavirus reproduction rate fell below the critical threshold in Germany falling from 1.4 to an estimated value of 0.94 as reported by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for public health and disease control.
This R number, which signifies the virus reproduction rate, gives the number of people who would be infected by 100 people who are COVID-19 positive. As indicated by the value, 0.94 means that on an average, about 94 people will be affected in a 24-hour period, showing that the effect of the virus was slowly wearing out after affecting in the first two days of the week.
According to RKI, the values of increase in the number of localised cases will have a more significant impact on the R number than the overall increase in number of cases reported. This is slightly disturbing, since hundreds of workers in German slaughterhouses – many from Eastern Europe – have tested positive and now thousands more tests are being done in that sector. One slaughterhouse alone – in Coesfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia – has seen 260 cases.
170,508 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Germany and in the past 24 hours there were 933 new infections, while the death toll is at 7,533, which is relatively lesser than its European counterparts like the UK or Italy.
Since these statistics come only after a week since the lockdown relaxation, its chancellor Angela Merkel is being strongly criticised worldwide for this decision.