(Bloomberg) --

Germany recorded an increase in the number of new coronavirus cases, while the infection rate fell back below the key threshold of 1.0.

• There were 285 new cases in the 24 hours through Wednesday morning, bringing the total to 183,879, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. That compares with 184 the previous day and almost 7,000 at the peak of the pandemic in late March.
• Fatalities increased by 8 to 8,563. The daily death toll has remained well below 100 since mid-May.
• The reproduction factor of the virus, known as R-naught, fell to 0.89 on Tuesday from 1.20 the day before, according to the latest estimate from the Robert Koch Institute. That means 10 infected people are estimated to infect an average of around nine others.
• The number represents the course of infection approximately one to two weeks ago and is sensitive to short-term changes, such as local outbreaks, especially if the number of new cases is relatively low, according to the health institute.
• The RKI also provides a 7-day R-value, which compensates for fluctuations. That value was 0.87 on Tuesday, down from 0.95 the previous day.
• The government is trying to keep the figure below 1.0 to prevent exponential growth in the number of cases and a second wave of infections.

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