Germany not alarmed by infection rate rise
The scientific body advising the German government on coronavirus says it is not concerned that the virus reproduction rate - the R rate - has been above one for three straight days.
Above R1.0 means that, statistically, one infected person is passing the virus to more than one other person.
But Lars Schaade of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said only when the R value rose above 1.2 or 1.3 for many days would he be worried.
The data can be subject to delays.
Mr Schaade said "individual days aren't a problem".
He also said that the fewer the overall number of infections, the greater the impact of an outbreak - like those recently reported in slaughterhouses - on the R value.
Hundreds of personnel in German slaughterhouses - many from Eastern Europe - have tested positive and today thousands more tests are being done for the reason that sector. One slaughterhouse alone - in Coesfeld, North Rhine-Westphalia - has seen 260 cases.
"If the next decimal digit were above 1 that could not yet be critical. However the higher it goes above 1, like 1.2 or 1.3 and over a longer period of time, it could create a predicament where we'd pay very close attention and consider measures how exactly to countersteer that," Mr Schaade said.
RKI said on Tuesday the full total of deaths in Germany from Covid-19 had reached 7,533. The daily average of deaths during the past week was 100 to 200. The death tolls in a few other Europe - notably Italy, the UK and Spain - are higher.
Prof Tobias Welte of Hanover University is on the German Covid-19 task force. He told the BBC World Service that "we are in a well balanced phase, so we are somewhere between 600 and 1,000 new infections a day and these now for about a week are incredibly stable numbers".
"One change in Germany that could be recognised: we've some hotspots of infections, for instance meat production, some types of industry, but if you look in broad over Germany the numbers 're going down."
RKI reports that 170,508 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Germany and before 24 hours there have been 933 new infections.
The Germany infection figure according to Johns Hopkins University is slightly higher - 172,626.
