Die Zeit weekly, which compiles up-to-date numbers from nearly 400 local health authorities, reported that total deaths from coronavirus in Germany rose to 956 as of Thursday, and confirmed cases climbed to 80,120.
NUMBER OF VENTILATORS WERE INCREASED FROM 20,000 TO 30,000.
Meanwhile, German health authorities announced on Thursday significant progress in increasing number of beds in intensive care units, and their stock of ventilators.
Gerald Gass, the president of the German Hospital Federation, told local media that they have managed to increase the number of intensive care beds from 28,000 to nearly 40,000 in the last couple of weeks. “Roughly 15,000 to 20,000 of them remain free,” he said in an interview with the Rheinische Post daily.
Germany is the third worst-affected country by the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, but its death toll remained far lower than the two hardest-hit countries, Italy and Spain.
Germany is pursuing a strategy of widespread coronavirus testing and tested more than 830,000 people in the last three weeks. According to a recent study by the Robert Koch Institute, most of those infected in Germany are younger and middle-aged.