Germany today reported 933 new coronavirus cases in just 24 hours, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the national agency for disease control and prevention.
That’s a dramatic jump from the 357 cases reported just the day before. It brings the national total to 170,508 cases, the institute said.
The coronavirus reproduction rate in Germany has been above 1 for the past three consecutive days, the institute said.
A rate of 1 means that on average, each infected person is infecting one other person.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has previously warned that if the number — also known as the R0 value — rises above 1, the country’s health system would eventually be overwhelmed.
The institute said it’s too early to tell whether the virus is on the rise again due to statistical uncertainties.
“The rise of the (reproduction rate) makes it necessary to carefully observe the developments in the coming days,” the institute wrote in its daily data brief.
New clusters: Merkel warned on Monday that while Germany is easing lockdown restrictions, it remains “important for people to keep social distancing,” urging citizens to ”stick to the basic commandments.”
Germany has registered several larger coronavirus outbreaks over the past few days. Three meat processing plants across the country have recorded between 100 to 350 cases each in separate outbreaks.
