Up to 70% of Germans will get virus; aim is to slow spread: Merkel

BERLIN • Up to 70 per cent of the population is likely to be infected with the coronavirus that is currently spreading around the world, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, adding that since there was currently no cure, the focus had to be on slowing its spread.

"When the virus is out there, the population has no immunity and no therapy exists, then 60 per cent to 70 per cent of the population will be infected," she told a news conference in Berlin yesterday.

"The process has to be focused on not overburdening the health system by slowing the virus' spread... It is about winning time."

Dr Merkel spoke after mass-market daily Bild lambasted her for her handling of what it called "the corona chaos": "No appearances, no speech, no leadership in the crisis," it wrote.

Dr Merkel, who rarely gives formal news conferences, announced her appearance yesterday only a few hours ahead of time, highlighting the seriousness of Germany's plight.

Health Minister Jens Spahn has led the response, and said earlier that sealing Germany's borders to prevent the virus spreading would not work, rejecting calls to follow neighbour Austria in denying entry to visitors from Italy.

Germany has reported 1,296 cases and two deaths, the Robert Koch Institute said late on Tuesday.

Italy, which is the worst affected country after China, where the virus originated, has reported over 10,100 cases as of yesterday, and 631 deaths.

Meanwhile, Spain took over from France yesterday as the second-worst hit country in Europe, with over 2,000 infections and 47 deaths.

The coronavirus tally in Europe has reached more than 18,100 cases and over 700 deaths.

European Union member states must act in concert to slow the spread of the virus, Dr Merkel said yesterday, calling for the bloc to maintain economic life even as it mobilises to fight the epidemic.

"The virus has arrived in Europe; it is here - and everybody has to understand that," the German leader said, adding that each EU nation will contribute what it can to counter the spread.

The crisis has thrown into the spotlight Germany's federal system of government, in which power is devolved to the 16 states and regional authorities to decide whether to take up Mr Spahn's advice to cancel events with more than 1,000 participants.

Mr Spahn, in an interview yesterday with broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, said it was "astonishing" that no decision had been taken to call off a football match between Union Berlin and Bayern Munich scheduled in Berlin on Saturday.

The Berlin local authority concerned later said the match would take place behind closed doors - a decision Mr Spahn then welcomed.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE