Coronavirus update: Germany’s news cases continue to rise by over 500, R-rate drops to 2.02

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 191,449 with a total of 8,914 deaths, as reported by the German disease and epidemic control center, Robert Koch Institute (RKI), on Wednesday.

Cases increased by 587 in Germany on Wednesday versus Tuesday’s +503. The death count rose by 19, the tally showed.

The institute estimates the virus reproduction rate (R-value), the 4-day moving average, to be slightly lower at 2.02 as of Tuesday vs. 2.76 previous. The 7-day average rate falls to 1.67, still way above the key 1.00 threshold.

On Tuesday, the German state of North Rhine Westphalia reimposed lockdown measures for Gütersloh and Warendorf due to the virus outbreaks.

The RKI noted: “Estimates of the reproduction numbers (R-value and 7-day R-value) were around the value of 2 during the last few days. This is mainly related to local outbreaks which are described above, the outbreak in North Rhine-Westphalia playing a particularly important role in this context . Since case numbers in Germany are generally low, these local outbreaks have a relatively strong influence on the value of the reproduction number. Close monitoring of further developments needs to be continued during the upcoming days, especially in regard to whether case numbers are increasing outside of outbreak contexts.”

EUR/USD holds above 1.1300

EUR/USD holds minor gains above 1.1300 amid a broadly subdued US dollar and cautious trading in the Asian equities. Focus shifts to the German IFO survey.

• EUR/USD: Bulls need an upbeat German IFO Expectations figure to scale key resistance