German COVID-19 distancing rules to remain for a long time
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Rules to slow spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany will remain for a long time but new infection numbers can be brought down if “we pull ourselves together”, the head of the country’s Robert Koch institute for infectious diseases (RKI) said on Thursday.
The number of undetected cases has likely grown over the past weeks, Lothar Wieler added at a virtual news conference.
He added that the growth of COVID-19 infections in Germany could be much more severe without countermeasures, a senior official of the Robert Koch institute for infectious diseases (RKI) said on Thursday.
Head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) Lothar Wieler speaks at a press conference on the coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease in Berlin, Germany, 12 November 2020. Germany sees the spike with coronavirus infections through out the country. EPA-EFE/GEORG WENZEL / POOL
The pandemic would have a reproduction rate, or ‘R’, of 3 to 4 without measures while the factor currently stands at around 1 in Germany, the head of RKI’s surveillance unit, Ute Rexroth, said at a virtual news conference.
Preliminary data from Pfizer and its German partner Biontech on their experimental COVID-19 vaccine are very encouraging, the head of Germany’s Robert Koch institute for infectious diseases (RKI), Lothar Wieler, said on Thursday.
The head of the RKI said he slowing dynamic of new German coronavirus infections is a reason to be cautiously optimistic.
“But we don’t yet know whether this is a stable development,” Lothar Wieler said at a virtual press briefing.
Hospitals are expected to reach capacity, he added.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 21,866 to 727,553, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday.
The reported death toll rose by 215 to 11,982, the tally showed.
