Story at a glance
- Germany has begun to loosen restrictions in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- In recent days, there appears to have been a jump in the number of newly reported cases.
- While it’s not clear whether the recent spike is an anomaly, the coming days will be critical in assessing the decision to lift the lockdown.
On Monday, it looked like newly reported cases, hospitalizations and fatalities in Germany were decreasing. Just one day later, the number of new cases had almost tripled from the day before.
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The Robert Koch Institute, the German federal government agency responsible for disease control and prevention, reported an estimated 357 new coronavirus cases on May 11. The next day, that number jumped to 933 new cases.
The coronavirus reproduction rate has been above one for three days now. A rate of one means each infecting person is infecting one other person on average.
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But the institute says it’s too early to know whether cases truly have spiked or if statistical errors and lags in reporting are responsible for the increase. The trends in coming days will be critical to understanding what is happening in Germany as the government gradually reduces social distancing measures.
Nonmedical face masks are currently required on public transport and in shops and people must keep a distance of about 5 feet between each other in public. Schools, shops and certain public gathering places, including churches, mosques and synagogues, are slowly being allowed to reopen.
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