Hope is on the other side of the Rhine. The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus is "under control" in Germany after a month of restrictions in social life, the government welcomed on Friday 17 April.

For the first time, the infection rate, a very closely monitored data which measures the average number of people infected by each Covid-19 patient, fell to less than one on Friday, appearing at 0.7, according to the Robert Koch Institute, the federal authority responsible for epidemiological monitoring. The Covid-19 is thus "under control and manageable", welcomed the Minister of Health, Jens Spahn.

This rate is particularly scrutinized because it has very concrete implications on the capacity of the health system to absorb the shock of the pandemic. In a highly commented intervention, Angela Merkel warned on Wednesday that any further increase in the infection rate would "overwhelm" the German healthcare system.

Relaxed restrictions

Without opting for strict confinement, Germany imposed significant restrictions throughout its territory, from the closure of schools and cultural places to the prohibition of the gathering of more than two people on the public highway. "We can now say that it has been successful (...), infection rates have dropped significantly," said Minister Spahn.

Another "important and encouraging" element, "since April 12, there have been more sick people healed every day than new infections," he said. The country had 133,830 officially declared cases on Friday (+3,380 in 24 hours) including 3,868 fatalities, according to the Robert Koch Institute.

Germany will now be able to relax the restrictions in force. But it will "learn to live with the virus", hammered Friday the Minister of Health.

More masks

To avoid any resumption of the pandemic, Germany will thus develop the use of masks. The government has announced that it has awarded contracts to around fifty companies to manufacture a total of 10 million filter masks meeting the FFP2 protection standard and 40 million surgical masks per week from August.

An experiment in compulsory wearing of the mask in the city of Iena (Thuringia) would tend to demonstrate its effectiveness. No new case has been recorded there for a week, according to the German press.

Saxony, a region of former East Germany, meanwhile announced on Friday that wearing a mask, scarf or simple cloth would be compulsory from Monday. It thus becomes the first of the 16 Länder to take such a measure.

Germany also intends to multiply the tests. It has now produced some 1.7 million.

With AFP

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