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Wednesday 21 October 2020
The corona virus continues to spread rapidly in Germany. For the first time, more than 9,000 people are infected in one day. The virus has now also reached the federal government.
German health authorities reported a new high in new daily infections at night. As the information from 15 state authorities evaluated by ntv.de shows, 9,411 new cases were added in 24 hours. This increases the number of proven corona cases to almost 386,000. The number of deaths related to an infection increased from 30 to 9886. Currently, some 76,000 people are infected.
The infection rate (R value) is given by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) as 1.09 (previous day: 1.25). This means that an average of 100 infected people infect another 109 people with Sars-CoV-2. The 7-day R-value shows the infection process from 8 to 16 days ago and is therefore less subject to daily fluctuations. It is currently 1.17 (previous day: 1.23).
Since the beginning of September, the number of corona tests per week has fluctuated between 1.1 and 1.2 million, with a very slight upward trend. However, the positive rate has increased from 0.75 to 3.63 percent over time. The backlog of samples has increased again for two weeks. Some laboratories mentioned problems with the delivery of work materials. More recently, nearly a third of all RKI-registered districts and cities were above the threshold of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants per week (data as of October 21). In around 30 districts and cities, the value was even higher than 100.
Meanwhile, the federal Minister of Health himself, Jens Spahn, commented on his corona infection at night. “Thanks for all the good wishes,” he tweeted. “I am in home isolation and I am recovering with only cold symptoms.” He wished everyone he came in contact with to stay healthy. “Let’s keep taking care of each other!” More than 1000 users reply to the tweet in an hour.
Many politicians had already sent recovery wishes via Twitter, including Friedrich Merz, who is running for president of the CDU. “Dear Jens Spahn, I know firsthand how unpleasant a corona infection can be. I wish you a smooth course and a speedy recovery!” Merz wrote. Spahn was the first federal government minister to test positive for Corona today.
Family Minister Franziska Giffey tested negative for Corona in the late afternoon. As a spokeswoman said, it was a quick test. Giffey had attended a cabinet meeting that morning and spoke to Spahn on the sidelines, as photos show. The reason for the family minister’s test was, above all, the joint press conference last Friday on the situation of daycare centers in the pandemic, he said. Giffey had sat on the podium with Spahn for a long time.
