The general lockdown has been extended by another three weeks
Any improvements to the virus situation have sort of plateaued in recent weeks but at least things are better now than they were at the start of the year.
Despite an extension to the general lockdown to 28 March, Germany will move forward with a phased reopening of the economy starting with allowing retailers to open in areas with fewer than 50 new infections per 100,000 residents over a 7-day period.
German chancellor Merkel had tried to push for an incidence rate of 35 but faced resistance from state leaders, so the compromise was for 50 instead.
Merkel did warn however that if the incidence rate across the country shoots back up to 100 again, an "emergency brake" will be triggered to reinstate lockdown measures.
The latest national incidence rate is seen at 64.7 and keeping above 60 in recent days.
In terms of healthcare capacity, there were 2,823 (-31) virus patients requiring intensive care as of yesterday with there being 4,661 (17%) intensive care beds still available.
