According to the latest data released by the Robert Koch Institute of Federal Disease Control and Prevention in Germany, as of 00:00 local time on January 4, 9,847 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Germany, with a total of 1,775,513 confirmed cases; 302 new deaths, with a total of 34,574 deaths.
The institute pointed out that during holidays and New Year’s Eve, the number of tests and laboratory tests and data transmissions of federal state health agencies have decreased, so the reference of data related to the epidemic in Germany is debatable.
Meanwhile, 115,894 new confirmed cases across Germany in the past seven days, with a seven-day infection rate of 139.4, which indicates how many people in 100,000 residents have tested positive for COVID-19 on average in the past seven days.
The goal of the federal and state governments is to keep it below the alert value of 50. The seven-day infection rate is regarded as an important reference standard for tightening or relaxing epidemic prevention policies.
German Chancellor Merkel and the governors of the federal states will hold consultations again on January 5 on whether to extend the current “hard blockade order” throughout the territory.
At present, the validity of the severe restrictions will be temporarily until January 10.
Federal states, which have been hit hard by the coronavirus epidemic, now generally demand an extension of the lockdown order, while some states with a milder epidemic tend to evaluate again two weeks later. The federal government expressed support for the extension of the blockade.
In addition, there are obvious differences of opinion on whether kindergartens and primary schools will continue to be closed after January 10.
Federal states with high infection rates have called for schools to remain closed, while individual federal states want to start seniors in staggered classes or distance learning.
