Coronavirus update: Germany’s reports 537 new infections, R-rate jumps to 2.88

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 190,359 with a total of 8,885 deaths, as reported by the German disease and epidemic control center, Robert Koch Institute (RKI), on Monday.

Cases increased by 537 in Germany on Monday versus Sunday’s +687. The death count rose by 3, the tally showed.

The big shocker was the institute estimating the virus reproduction rate (R-value) the 4-day moving average to be at 2.88 as of Sunday. The 7-day average rate rose to 2.03, well above the key 1.00 threshold.

Despite the uptick in the R-value, the RKI offers some conciliatory comments, “estimates of the reproduction numbers (R-value and 7-day R-value) were between 2 and 3 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. Further developments need to be monitored closely during the upcoming days, especially in regard to whether case numbers are increasing outside of outbreak contexts.”

EUR/USD tests 1.1200

Amid risk-recovery led broad US dollar weakness, EUR/USD is testing the 1.12 handle, gaining 0.21% on the day.

• EUR/USD rises after charting biggest single-day losing run in two months