More than 30,000 new coronavirus cases were registered in Germany in one day for the first time, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Friday.
More specifically, the country saw 33,777 new cases compared to the previous day, according to RKI, which is the German equivalent of Sciensano.
With that, Germany now has 1,439,938 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic. In addition, 24,938 Germans have died from the virus, of which 813 since the last count.
Germany went into a strict lockdown on Wednesday, which is set to last until 10 January and involves the closing of all non-essential shops, schools and kindergartens.
A lighter lockdown, with the closing of bars, restaurants and places like cinemas and theatres, the cancellation of large events and unnecessary travel being “strongly discouraged,” did not do enough to curb the spread of the virus.
Germany is not the only country to return to a lockdown, as the Netherlands did the same at midnight on Monday night.
Belgium is not on lockdown, but a Consultative Committee meeting set for Friday afternoon is likely to focus on better enforcing the coronavirus measures already in place as the country’s reproduction rate reaches 1.0 again and new daily infections have risen for the sixth day in a row.
Jason Spinks
The Brussels Times
