For the first time in three months: Coronavirus incidence in Germany drops below 100

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Corona test center in Kodersdorf in Saxony

Photo: MATTHIAS RIETSCHEL / REUTERS

According to figures from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the so-called seven-day incidence of the spread of the coronavirus in Germany is below the 100 mark for the first time in three months. According to the RKI, the value fell to 98 on Thursday - at 17,553 reported new infections within 24 hours.

Most recently, the seven-day incidence - i.e. the number of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants within this period - fell below the 100 mark on October 29.

However, the figures from the Robert Koch Institute must be viewed with caution, as late registrations often occur.

The information tends to be a little too low.

The seven-day incidence is a key benchmark of the federal and state governments, on which tightening and relaxing of the corona rules are made dependent.

The current goal of the federal government is to push the value below 50 in all regions.

Then the health authorities should be able to trace all chains of infection.

The last time it was below 50 on October 20.

The previous high of 197.6 was reached on December 22nd.

The incidence has thus halved since the run-up to Christmas.

If the current trend persists, the numbers could halve again within the next month and the incidence of around 50 would be reached.

The prerequisite for such a halving rate within four weeks is a so-called R value of 0.9.

That means: If 100 infected people only infect 90 other people on average, the numbers drop by half within a month.

If it were possible to reduce the R value significantly further to 0.7, the numbers could even be halved within a week.

Highest incidence: Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt

The most corona cases in relation to the number of residents reported in Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt in the past seven days, where the incidence was still 174 according to the RKI. According to the RKI figures, very few people were infected in Bremen (incidence of 73) and Lower Saxony (incidence of 76).

The RKI gave the total number of infections on Thursday at 2,178,828, the total number of deaths increased to 54,913.

On Wednesday morning, the RKI had reported a total of 53,972 deaths.

Accordingly, 941 people recently died of or with the virus.

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irb / AFP / dpa