BERLIN, May 26 (Xinhua) -- New infections with COVID-19 in Germany remained under last week's average as the number of confirmed cases increased by 432 within one day to 179,002, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced on Tuesday.
Over the course of last week, an average of 561 daily cases had been reported by the RKI, the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.
According to the RKI, the number of deaths from the new coronavirus in Germany increased by 45 to 8,302 on Tuesday, resulting in a fatality rate of 4.6 percent in the country.
The estimated number of people in Germany who had already recovered from COVID-19 increased by around 800 within one day to 162,000 on Tuesday, according to the RKI. The number of people infected with COVID-19 in Germany continued to fall and stood at around 17,000 on Tuesday.
The four-day average reproduction rate of COVID-19 in Germany decreased from 0.94 to 0.83, according to the daily situation report by the RKI for Monday.
On Monday, government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel considered mere recommendations to be insufficient. "Binding rules" regarding the 1.5-meter distance rule, contact restrictions and hygiene regulations should continue to apply.
In Germany, federal states have the decision-making power over the everyday rules during the coronavirus crisis. Some states such as Thuringia and Saxony are planning far-reaching relaxations from June 6. Enditem
