The German government will ask federal states to test asylum seekers for the coronavirus as part of a broader package to combat the public-health crisis, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer announced Thursday.
Thousands of refugees arrive each month, and a “substantial share” come via countries that are heavily at risk, said Seehofer, speaking at a press conference with Health Minister Jens Spahn.
Germany will also suspend the transfer of asylum seekers to and from Italy, which would otherwise be carried out under so-called Dublin rules, until further notice, Seehofer said.
Spahn warned that the country is at risk of facing a coronavirus epidemic.
Six western German states reported a total of 22 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, a day after the federal health minister said the country is at the start of an epidemic.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, the health ministry said 14 more people tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday in the Heinsberg area, where a couple were the first confirmed cases in the state.
Read more via Politico/ Reuters
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