Public health authority Germany has cautioned that the coronavirus epidemic could last for up to two years.
The Robert Koch Institute, the German federal government agency responsible for disease control and prevention, made the claim on Tuesday as it strengthened the threat risk for Germany from ‘moderate’ to ‘high’.
This news came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared yesterday that meetings will be prohibited in churches, mosques and synagogues and said playgrounds and un-essential shops will shut as the country approaches 7,000 reported cases and 14 deaths.
The Robert Koch Institute said that as they normally run their course in waves, the pandemic could continue for another 24 months.
The amount of time relies as to how many people develop immunity to COVID-19 after showing symptoms, how many of them test positive for the disease and how long it would take to produce a vaccine, says RKI President Lothar Wieler.
However, Dr Wieler did not dismiss the possibility for countries to choose to stay in position for the time for a few of the emergency steps.
Furthermore, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said that the government has keep coming up with some € 50 million (£ 45 million) to get German people trapped outside the country.
He declared a push to bring home thousands of tourists stuck around the globe in famous winter holiday spots-particularly people on package holidays in Morocco, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, the Maldives and Egypt.
According to Maas the government is spending up to € 50 million on the initiative in collaboration with airlines like Lufthansa to carry Germans home in the coming days.
However, he did not provide a specific number of trapped Germans, although he said in Morocco there was a especially large amount, of around 4,000 or 5,000. “Even though we are trying to do what we can humanly, we can not have a solution within 24 hours in any situation.
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He further added that his ministry has given a written notice to every country against tourist travel.
A German company Volkswagen said it would shut much of its European plants for two weeks due to the confusion surrounding the outbreak over demand for cars and parts supplies.
Along with the aid of the military and other allies, agreed to create a new hospital for up to 1,000 coronavirus patients, German daily Tagesspiegel quoted the capital’s health minister as saying on Tuesday said the Berlin city government.
There were 6,012 people diagnosed with coronavirus in Germany as of Monday, of whom 300 are in Berlin. The newspaper gave no information on the timeline for the building.
Tagesspiegel said underground train services in Berlin will be shortened from Monday, with services running only every 10 minutes.