BERLIN | Germany reported two more deaths and 300 more E. coli cases Wednesday, but Health Minister Daniel Bahr insisted that new infections were dropping, giving some hope that the world’s deadliest E. coli outbreak is abating.
Mr. Bahr spoke before an emergency meeting in Berlin with health officials from the European Union, which is getting concerned about Germany’s handling of the crisis.
“I cannot yet give an all-clear, but after an analysis of the numbers there’s reason for hope,” Mr. Bahr told ARD television. “The numbers are continuously falling, which nonetheless means that there can still be new cases and that one unfortunately has to expect new deaths, too. But overall new infections are clearly going down.”
Mr. Bahr said the death toll has risen to 25 in Germany and one in Sweden.
Germany’s national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, said the number of reported cases in Germany rose by more than 300 to 2,648. Nearly 700 of those affected are hospitalized with a serious complication that can cause kidney failure. Another 100 E. coli cases are in other European countries and the United States.
The Koch Institute did not fully back Mr. Bahr’s optimism. The declining trend in new cases could be caused by consumers refusing to buy raw vegetables believed to be the source of the E. coli.
EU health chief John Dalli, meanwhile, demanded that German health authorities work more closely with international experts in fighting the deadly epidemic, saying they should use “the experience and expertise in all of Europe and even outside of Europe.”
“The focus of this meeting is to ensure that all the steps are being taken to get to the final elimination of this contamination as soon as possible and to see whether any more resources and efforts should be made,” Mr. Dalli told reporters as he went into the emergency summit in Berlin.
Outside health experts and even German lawmakers have strongly criticized the German investigation, saying the infections should have been spotted much sooner.
Weeks after the outbreak began on May 2, German officials are still looking for its cause. Spanish cucumbers were initially blamed, then ruled out after tests showed they had a different strain of E. coli. On Sunday, investigators suspected German bean sprouts, only to backtrack a day later when initial tests were negative.
A warning against eating cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and vegetable sprouts is still in place.
Consumers across Europe are shunning fruit and vegetables, with EU farmers claiming losses up to $611 million as ripe produce rots in fields and warehouses. On Tuesday, Spain, Italy and France angrily demanded compensation for their farmers who have been blindsided by the huge losses in the E. coli outbreak.
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