Germany’s number of daily coronavirus cases hit a new high on Thursday morning, with the Robert Koch Institute registering almost 20.000 new infections within the space of 24 hours. The good news is that the crucial R-value continues to drop. 

Germany sets new daily record for coronavirus infections

The number of confirmed new coronavirus infections in Germany has hit a record high of 19.990 cases within one day. This was announced by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Thursday morning. The previous record of 19.059 cases was set just under a week ago on Saturday, October 31. Last Thursday, the number of new cases was 16.774. 

According to the RKI, a total of 597.583 people in Germany are known to have been infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of deaths related to the virus rose by 118 to a total of 10.930. The RKI estimates that around 391.600 people have now recovered. 

There are currently 2.546 coronavirus patients in intensive care units in hospitals across the country, 158 more than on the previous day. That leaves 7.000 intensive care beds free nationwide, with an additional reserve capacity of 12.700. Nonetheless, concern has been raised in recent days that there are not enough qualified nurses to cover all of the beds. 

R-value is falling 

According to an RKI management report on Wednesday, the reproduction value (or R-value for short), has fallen to 0,81, down from 0,94 the previous day. This means that each infected person infects slightly less than one other person, on average. Authorities have stressed time and again that this value needs to be brought under one in order for the pandemic to recede. 

The RKI also provided a so-called seven-day R value, which relates to a longer period of time and is therefore less subject to daily fluctuations. According to RKI estimates, this value was 0,92 on Wednesday and 0,98 on Tuesday.