BERLIN, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Germany increased by 4,062 within a day to 22,672 on Monday, the president of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) Lothar Wieler announced on Monday.
However, not all health authorities in Germany had submitted data over the weekend and the figures would converge in the course of the week, stressed the president of federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention.
Germany recorded a total of 86 COVID-19 deaths by Monday. Wieler said that the average age of people dying from the disease in Germany was 82 years, while that of people infected with the COVID-19 was 45 years.
"It is and remains important to detect and isolate infected and sick people as early as possible" to identify contacts and to isolate them in quarantine, emphasized Wieler.
"There is also good news," said the RKI president. At least 2,809 people in Germany had recovered from the disease based on the transmitted data. However, RKI is assuming that the actual number of recovered patients was even higher.
Shortly after announcing a limited curfew in the country on Sunday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was informed that a doctor who had given her a prophylactic pneumococcal vaccination on Friday afternoon had tested positive for the coronavirus.
As a result, the Chancellor had decided to move immediately into home quarantine. She would continue her governmental work and be tested regularly over the next few days, according to government spokesperson Steffen Seibert.
