Germany's coronavirus infection rate rose after five consecutive days of declines, while the country reported the smallest increase in the number of new deaths from the pandemic since Monday.
The reproduction factor _ or R value _ rose to 0.62 on Saturday from 0.57 the previous day, according to the latest estimate by the country's health body, the Robert Koch Institute.
The estimate means that out of 100 people who get infected, a further 62 are likely to contract the virus. The government is trying to keep the value below 1.0 to prevent exponential growth in infections.
There were 422 new cases in the 24 hours through Sunday morning, down from 665 the previous day and bringing the total to 194,458, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with almost 7,000 at the peak of the pandemic in late March.
Fatalities increased by three to 8,968.The infection rate was as high as 2.88 on Monday with local outbreaks in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia "playing a particularly important role," according to RKI."
The dynamics of the various outbreak events are also influenced in part by serial tests carried out in the scope of the detected outbreaks, which can promptly lead to the detection of further infected persons," RKI said. "For this reason, the reproduction figures may continue to fluctuate strongly."
The RKI also provides a seven-day R value, which compensates for fluctuations. That value was 0.83 on Saturday, down from 1.02 the previous day.
