Up to 70% 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 to 70% of the population will be infected,” she told a news conference in Berlin.
“The process has to be focused on not overburdening the health system by slowing the virus’s spread … It’s about winning time.”
Merkel spoke after mass-selling 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.
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 neighbor Austria in denying entry to visitors from Italy.
Germany has reported 1,296 cases of the virus, and two deaths, the Robert Koch Institute said late on Tuesday.
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