Coronavirus spread accelerates again in Germany

CLOSE MONITORING

"It is too early to infer whether the number of new infections will continue to decrease as in the past weeks or increase again," the institute said in a separate daily bulletin issued on Saturday evening.

It cautioned that the R figure was subject to statistical uncertainty, adding: "The increase of the reproduction number R necessitates a close monitoring of the situation."

Germany has the sixth-largest COVID-19 caseload in Europe but has managed to contain fatalities from the highly infectious respiratory disease thanks to widespread and early testing and a healthcare system that is well-run and well-funded.

The latest phase of its pandemic management has, say critics, placed too much burden on local authorities to detect and respond to new outbreaks. A threshold set at 50 cases per 100,000 people for reimposing distancing measures is also seen by some epidemiologists as too high.

This level has already been triggered in two districts in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig Holstein, where COVID-19 has broken out among workers at meat processing plants.

The plant in North Rhine-Westphalia was closed on Friday after more than 150 of its 1,200 workers tested positive. Many are migrants from eastern Europe hired by subcontractors and housed in shared quarters that are a potential infection hotbed.