Germany, which has closed its bars, restaurants and many public facilities for a month, is experiencing “first signs” of an improvement in the curve of infections with the new coronavirus, the Robert Koch health watch institute said Thursday.
"The curve is flattening", said at a press conference the director of the Institute, Lothar Wieler, welcoming the "first signs" of improvement on the pandemic front and anxious to show that the efforts of people to respect the restrictions prove that "we are not powerless" in the face of the epidemic.
Nearly 12,000 dead in Germany
The situation remains "very serious", however: the Institute has identified 21,866 new contaminations in 24 hours, as well as 215 deaths.
“We must prevent the situation from deteriorating […] Our goal is to bring infections back to a level that our health system can cope with,” insisted Lothar Wieler.
He warned that barrier gestures - hand washing, regular ventilation of the interiors, reduction of contacts, self-isolation at the slightest symptom - would "accompany us for a long time, even if we have a vaccine".
Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional leaders will take stock of the situation on Monday and decide on possible new restrictive measures.
To date, since the appearance of the virus on German soil in March, 727,553 people have contracted Covid-19 and 11,982 have died from it.