Corona in Germany: Drosten assumes virus mutation - RKI reports a new trend

Coronavirus in Germany: The number of new infections and deaths is growing steadily. The focus is on individual hotspots. The further developments in our news ticker.

• The corona pandemic in Germany is far from over, but the current situation seems stable. However, the R value remains slightly above the critical mark.
• Health authorities report new infections to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin every day. How is the R-value developing (update from June 10th, 7:55 p.m.).
• Here you will find the basic facts about the corona virus * and the current case numbers in Germany as a map.

+++ This ticker is closed. All other news about the corona virus in Germany can be found here. +++

Update from June 11, 9:12 a.m .: The Robert Koch Institute currently reports the current number of cases as  185,416 - 555 more than on the previous day (as of 8:51 a.m.). 8755 people died, the number of recovered is 171,200. At the RKI, the numbers are updated once a day according to the electronically transmitted data from the health authorities .

According to the Johns Hopkins University in the USA, 186,522 people are currently infected in Germany, 8752 people have died.

Corona in Germany: Corona outbreak under control in Göttingen?

Update of June 10, 10:46 p.m .: The situation in Göttingen has eased slightly after the recent Corona outbreak. The statistical value of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the city and district of Göttingen has dropped to 31.43 within seven days, a city spokesman said on Wednesday. 

On Monday and Tuesday it was 42.72 and 35.4 respectively. From a value of 50, there could be further restrictions on public life in the city or district.

Read also:  He was considered cured: 30-year-old coronavirus patient dies in NRW

Corona virus in Germany: critical R-value? RKI reports current reproductive rate  

Update of June 10, 19:55 : Who is infected with the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus ? The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has published a graphic in its current situation report on Covid-19, which shows an interesting development in the age groups:

• In the risk group of over 80-year-olds, the number of corona infections has been decreasing for four weeks. 
• The corona cases increase in the younger age group between 0 and 29 years. 

RKI graphic from the situation report of June 9: Covid 19 cases in Germany by age group and reporting week.

© Screenshot RKI illustration

The RKI gives the current reproduction value R to 0.86   (data as of June 10). The day before, the  R value was 1.10. This R-value reflects the infection process about a week and a half ago. The value is subject to fluctuations. The 7-day R value is estimated at 0.86 (data as of June 10) (previous day: 0.90. The 7-day R shows the infection process seven to 14 days ago and, according to the RKI, shows trends more reliably .

A trend of new corona infections can be seen in the number of reproductions. It is a model. But the number of new infections every day should also be considered in addition to the value R.  

Corona outbreak in hospital - twelve corona infections reported

Update of June 10, 12.50 p.m .: Care in the Dortmund Clinic. As the city announced on dpa request, there was a corona outbreak. According to the health department, eight employees and four patients tested positive. No further details were initially disclosed. 

Advice is currently being given to a crisis team. The Ruhr News had previously reported the outbreak. One has the situation under control, the newspaper quoted a city spokeswoman. Contacts would be tracked and further tests carried out.

Update from June 10, 11:23 p.m .: As is known, the contact restrictions in Thuringia will be lifted from June 13. Now Hessen is also reacting and easing the corona measures. However, while the federal states are loosening up more and more, a look at a coronavirus indicator is worrying: the Robert Koch Institute reported an R value above the critical mark for the third time in a row this Wednesday. 

Corona in Germany: Drosten assumes a virus mutation - but that could be good news

Update of June 10, 10:46 am: Even after three months with Corona in Germany  , we know relatively little about the virus. Despite intensive research and studies. However, scientists have now provided the first findings that indicate mutations in the virus. 

But don't panic, this is largely normal - and can even be good for us. At least that explains  Christian Drosten in his NDR podcast based on a study from England. There the top virologist explains that, roughly speaking, the virus continues to develop. In the sense that "the virus has a better chance of being optimized in humans in the long term," said Drosten : "This has the chance that it will adapt better to humans than if it weren't for these larger transmission doses would have."

This sounds critical at first glance, but Drosten sees a mutation as entirely positive. This is how the coronavirus can  “replicate even better in the nose and also be transmitted better”. Drosten goes on to explain: “In the nose, however, we don't get too sick from it, which means that in the long run the whole thing becomes a runny nose, which no longer cares about the lungs . That could happen, that would be good and a trivialization of this disease. "

Although the virus could continue to affect the mucous membranes in the lungs, the result would be that you would feel much more ill than with a runny nose - and ultimately stay at home and thus avoid further transmission. Therefore, the virus can no longer spread so well.  

A  mutation that primarily affects the nasal area can therefore reproduce the virus better, which "leads to the fact that virus epidemics actually become more harmless over time."

A concluding sentence by Drosten also gives great hope: "However we turn it around, it will definitely become more harmless - if only because of population immunity," says the virologist: "But evolution may also play a role . "

Corona / Germany: New strategy in the fight against virus - major change in tests

Coronavirus in Germany: Tests without symptoms can be expanded.

© dpa / Britta Pedersen

Update from June 9, 7.48 pm: In Düsseldorf, almost 400 people celebrated crowded in a bar at the weekend. The Corona rules were clearly not observed. According to a report by the Rheinische Post, the security service officially stated this.

In the bar with restaurant operation, the guests danced crowded to the music of a DJ - no masks were worn. The bar was temporarily closed after the incident.

The managing director now wants to take action against the closure, as the Rheinische Post reports. The bar would therefore open again. However, according to the report, the operator now expects a four-digit fine. 

Corona virus in Germany: Federal state wants to allow events without limits and masks - R-value critical

Update June 9, 18:43: In Germany more people could be on the future coronavirus be tested, even if they are asymptomatic. 

This is stipulated in a regulation by Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn, which comes into force on Tuesday. "We want to nip the virus in the bud," said the CDU politician. "This is only possible with preventive series tests in hospitals and nursing homes and if we test all contact persons of infected people if possible ." This should not fail with the money. "It is much more expensive to test too little than to test too much," said Spahn.

Specifically, all patients who are admitted to the hospital should now be tested. In addition, health authorities or doctors can arrange tests for people without symptoms. Statutory health insurance covers the costs of 50 euros per test. Comprehensive tests with close contacts to infected people are possible - for example, if the planned voluntary Corona warning app for smartphones reports such a contact. Extensive tests are also possible for corona outbreaks in daycare centers or schools, as well as regular series tests in clinics and nursing homes.

The regulations on the assumption of costs apply retrospectively to May 14, also for private patients and people without health insurance. So far, there have generally been tests for till costs only if there is a specific suspicion of infection , i.e. for people with symptoms.

An archive photo of the Castle Night in Potsdam - such major events could soon be possible again in Brandenburg. Without a maximum number, but with a distance rule.

© picture alliance / dpa / Nestor Bachmann

Corona in Germany: Unknowns steal 400,000 face masks from transporters

Update from June 9, 2020, 4.15 p.m .: Unknown persons stole 400,000 face masks from a van near Wertheim (Baden-Württemberg). The driver of the car parked in front of a restaurant on Monday afternoon at a garage on Autobahn3, as the police in Heilbronn announced on Tuesday. When the driver wanted to return to his car after about ten minutes, it was gone. How the perpetrators could steal the Ford was initially unclear. The van reappeared in a nearby restaurant parking lot in the afternoon - there was no trace of the masks. The police are looking for witnesses. 

However, many are wondering how long the corona mask requirement will continue in the individual federal states.

Thuringia, however, has made a decisive corona decision. 

Corona in Germany: Antibodies in Hamburg's blood donation - researchers present first results  

Update on June 9, 2020 15:24 : In a study of blood donations researchers in Hamburg only less than one percent antibodies to the coronavirus found. According to the press release of the University Medical Center Eppendorf (UKE), there are no indications of an existing immunity among the population. In the past three months, around 900 blood samples have been tested for antibodies to the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus. 

Coronavirus in Germany: Researchers examine blood donations in Hamburg for antibodies (symbolic photo).

© dpa / Christian Charisius

Corona virus in Germany: Brandenburg wants to allow events without a mask  

Update from June 9, 2020, 2:24 p.m .: Brandenburg wants to allow events and meetings without a limit to the number of participants and even without a mask . That reports Bild.de. The Brandenburg government is therefore advising a draft of the new Corona regulation on Tuesday. The "SARS-CoV-2 containment regulation" should be changed into a "handling regulation", it says.

Even at events in closed rooms, masks in rooms are superfluous. A minimum distance (1.5 meters) and regular ventilation as well as an attendance list would therefore suffice.

However, both mask requirement and distance keeping should continue to apply in shops, clinics, travel and in public transport as well as on excursion steamers.

An archive photo of the Castle Night in Potsdam - such major events could soon be possible again in Brandenburg. Without a maximum number, but with a distance rule.

© picture alliance / dpa / Nestor Bachmann

Corona crisis in Germany: Thuringia removes contact block

Update from June 9, 2020, 2:15 p.m .: Thuringia will lift the contact block from Saturday. Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) announced this change in the Corona strategy two weeks ago. The new regulation is based on “more personal responsibility” of the citizens.

Corona virus in Germany: Göttingen announces current figures after mass tests

Update from June 9, 2020, 2 p.m .: The city of Göttingen announced the current figures after a corona outbreak and mass tests in a high-rise complex at a press conference. Mayor Köhler is cautiously optimistic about the new infections. Compared to the previous day, three more corona cases were registered. However, the infection is still being watched closely. A total of 215 corona cases are currently active in Göttingen, 137 of them in the city of Göttingen and 78 in the district, the crisis team said.  

The number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants had not yet reached the critical value of 50, it was 35.4.

Corona virus in Germany: is the situation in Germany stable?

First report from June 9, 2020

Munich - The coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 has been determining our lives for months. The first infection with the novel corona virus in Germany was confirmed in Bavaria on January 27. The Berlin virologist Christian Drosten * warned of a pandemic at one of the Leopoldina's first press conferences (February 13). "The virus doesn't stay in China," said Drosten. That seems to be ages ago. 

Corona numbers are currently rising moderately in Germany. Health authorities report figures to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin every day. Since the beginning of the Corona crisis, 184,543 people in Germany have been shown to be infected with Sars-CoV-2, as the RKI reported on Tuesday morning (data status: June 9, 8:30 a.m.). 

According to RKI, 8711 people infected with the virus died in Germany - an increase of 37 compared to the previous day. RKI estimates that around 170,200 people have survived the infection.

The RKI reports 350 new # coronavirus infections in yesterday.

The highest values ​​continue to come from Lower Saxony (92) and NRW (83).

There are fewer than 10 new cases in 9 federal states. @welt pic.twitter.com/vJ4UYIFxix

Corona virus in Germany: Corona hotspots 

Accordingly, high 7-day incidences were observed in four urban and rural districts : Bremerhaven, Göttingen district, Coburg district and Cuxhaven district. These corona outbursts made headlines.  

• According to RKI, there was a cross-district outbreak in the vicinity of a religious community in Bremerhaven , as well as an outbreak after a larger family celebration.
• In Coburg , care facilities - among other things in connection with dialysis treatments - increasingly experienced Covid-19 infections.
• In Göttingen  , private family celebrations led to a corona outbreak, the RKI writes in the current coronavirus situation report (June 8). Contacts were identified, including a large number of children. 

According to the RKI, corona outbreaks continue to occur in meat factories, as well as in the vicinity of religious communities in Berlin, Hesse and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

In logistics centers in Heinsberg (North Rhine-Westphalia), Winsen / Luhe and Hanover-Langenhagen (both Lower Saxony), there were also major corona outbreaks.

Source: RKI

Corona virus in Germany: R value just above the critical mark

The number of reproductions - R-value for short - is carefully observed. For the corona pandemic to abate, the number would have to be below the critical mark of 1 for a long time. According to the RKI, the R value is 1.11 (data status as of June 8; midnight). The previous day it was at 1.05. 

The R value shows the infection process approximately one and a half weeks beforehand. The R-value is sensitive to short-term changes in the number of cases; the RKI explains individual outbreak events. For this reason, the RKI currently gives a 7-day R-value of 0.87 (data status: June 8th, midnight). The 7-day R shows the infection process about one to a little more than two weeks ago. 

The corona virus uncovered abuses at slaughterhouses in Germany. 

© dpa / Mohssen Assanimoghaddam

Corona crisis in Germany reveals grievances

Moderator Frank Plasberg discusses the abuses in German slaughterhouses that were highlighted by the Corona crisis with "hard but fair" guests.

A topic in the corona crisis caused a lot of discussion at the beginning of the pandemic. How useful is the mask requirement really? German study comes to a clear conclusion.

* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

List of rubric lists: © dpa / Christophe Gateau