Germany recorded just 1,018 new coronavirus cases today in the smallest jump for more than six weeks.
The latest figures bring the total number of cases from 154,175 to 155,193, an increase of just 0.7 per cent which is the lowest since the crisis began.
The 1,018 new infections are the fewest since March 14, when the figure was last in the hundreds.
Many countries have seen lower figures immediately after the weekend because of delays in reporting cases, but today’s rise is still lower than on previous Sundays and Mondays.
The death toll in the last 24 hours was 110, the joint-smallest since April 6, taking the total from 5,640 to 5,750.
This graph shows the daily number of coronavirus cases added to the tally in Germany. Today’s figure of 1,018 is the smallest since the figure was last in the hundreds on March 14
This chart shows the daily death toll in Germany. The latest figure of 110 is the joint-lowest since early April and the peak has never reached the levels it has in Britain, Italy or Spain
Germany’s mortality rate – 5,750 deaths from 155,193 cases, or 3.7 per cent – is far lower than in Italy (13.5 per cent), Spain (11.2 per cent) or Britain (13.6 per cent).
The country’s relative success has allowed it to start edging out of lockdown already, but experts have warned against complacency.
‘This is a bit like playing with fire now,’ said virologist Stephan Ludwig of the University of Münster.
‘Just because one can go into shops again does not mean that one need no longer adhere to all other restrictions and hygiene rules.’
Retailers with floor space of up to 800 square metres (8,600 square feet) are now allowed to open under a gradual easing of restrictions.
Many schools will start opening from May 4, with priority for final-year students, although some states have started already.
Angela Merkel has similarly urged caution, saying that even a small increase in the rate of transmission could leave Germany’s hospitals overburdened.
German health officials have a keen eye on the rate of reproduction (R), which shows how many people each virus patient is infecting.
The Robert Koch Institute currently estimates the rate at 0.9, meaning that nine out of ten patients infect one other person, on average, and the tenth does not.
Germany has identified a rate below 1 as a key indicator that the outbreak is receding and that life can begin to return to normal.
The Koch institute also says that daily cases will have to fall into the low hundreds before the lockdown can be eased further.
All of Germany’s 16 states have ordered mandatory mask-wearing on public transport in order to stop the spread of the virus.
In addition, the federal government is backing a smartphone tracing app which would alert people when they may have come into contact with an infected person.
Merkel has said the aim is to be able to return to a stage where infection numbers are low enough to allow contact chains to be traced and isolated.
All of Germany’s 16 states have made masks compulsory on public transport. Commuters are seen here at a station in Cologne today
Doctors and paramedics wearing protective gear treat a coronavirus patient at a clinic in Hanau in western Germany earlier this month
Privacy and surveillance are highly sensitive subjects in Germany, but the government says it is willing to introduce a voluntary app.
‘Our goal is for the tracing app to be ready for use very soon and with strong acceptance from the public and civil society,’ health minister Jens Spahn and Merkel’s chief of staff Helge Braun said in a joint statement.
Berlin had previously supported a pan-European app known as PEPP-PT, but it faced criticism over its plan to store data on a central server.
In an open letter last week, some 300 leading academics urged governments to dismiss the centralised approach, saying it risked undermining public trust.
The letter warned that a centralised database would allow ‘unprecedented surveillance of society at large’.
Now, Germany is backing a ‘decentralised’ system which would see data stored only on people’s own devices.
People could choose to share their phone number and details of their symptoms with health authorities, but only if they want to.
Germany’s reversal brings it into line with a proposal by Apple and Google, who said this month they would develop new tools to support decentralised contact tracing.
People walk past market stalls in Berlin over the weekend as Germany begins to exit the lockdown after keeping its death rate relatively low
Meanwhile, Germany is performing tens of thousands of antibody tests in the hope of issuing ‘immunity passports’ for people who have developed defences against the disease.
Many governments are keen on the idea, but health experts have warned that the tests are not yet reliable enough.
Scientists are not yet sure whether everyone who recovers from the virus becomes immune or for how long.
Matthias Orth, a board member of the Professional Association of German Laboratory Doctors (BDL), said inaccuracies are a big problem.
Tests so far show that people can test negative for antibodies even if they have had Covid-19, he said.
‘There are also quite banal coronaviruses that do not cause serious illness, and they can give a positive result,’ he said.
More accurate tests will come within weeks, he said, but he stressed that ‘it’s a little too early to give patients a clear statement that they are definitely immune’.
Nonetheless, current studies are being closely watched, including a random sample of 3,000 households in Munich which started over the weekend.
A separate study is ongoing in the district of Heinsberg where Germany’s first major cluster of infections was uncovered in February.
So far, researchers have determined that 14 per cent of the population in Gangelt, a sub-district of Heinsberg, had previously been infected.