BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany registered around 1,430 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, its leading public health institute said on Friday, significantly raising its initial estimate.
The Robert Koch Institute’s (RKI) first tally was 782. It said technical problems had led to an undercount.
The higher figure is in line with the trend of increased numbers of new infections over the past four weeks that have led to fears of a second COVID-19 wave. Many have been diagnosed among travellers returning from abroad.
The number of new infections is one of the main factors federal and state officials consider when deciding whether to loosen or tighten measures to slow the spread of the pandemic.
Daily cases in Germany, which has kept the virus in check better than some other large European countries due to early testing and mandatory social distancing measures, peaked at just over 6,000 in early April.
(Reporting by Thomas Seythal; editing by John Stonestreet)
