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Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) again emphasized that, according to current knowledge, four out of five coronavirus infections were mild or even completely symptom-free. However, the greater the number of infections, the higher the likelihood that it could lead to serious injuries, pneumonia or death, said Spahn.
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) does not expect the fight against the new corona virus to end quickly. “I expect that we will have a vaccine at the turn of the year,” he told “Bild am Sonntag”. Until then, the virus “had to be combated with the classic means of disease protection. We have to consistently break the infection chains.” The blocking of regions or cities did not completely rule out Seehofer. “This scenario would be the last resort,” said the CSU politician.
Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) sees sufficient funds to counteract negative consequences of the spread of the virus for the economy. “If the situation required such an impetus to be necessary, we also have the means to launch an economic stimulus package,” Scholz told Welt am Sonntag.
Germany is prepared for the fight against the pathogen Sars-CoV-2, said the minister. Emergency medical aid can be provided from the current budget. “Should there be any further serious upheavals in the global economy, for example because markets and production sites around the world are affected, we have all the strength to react quickly, decisively and strongly,” said the newspaper’s Scholz. Minister of Economic Affairs Peter Altmaier (CDU) had previously promised the government to take countermeasures in the event of an even more massive impact of the corona virus on the economy, although he had not spoken of economic stimulus programs.
After the discovery of the first death by the novel corona virus in the country, the United States has advised against traveling to the affected regions in Italy and South Korea. Travel advice has been tightened to the highest level, as US Vice President Mike Pence said in Washington. In addition, the number of known cases of the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen in the United States has risen to 22, said Nancy Messonier, head of the Department of Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC health agency. “The provisional information increases our concern about the immediate threat to certain groups in the United States.”
In Australia, a 78-year-old from Perth died of the disease on Sunday. The man had previously been with his wife on the quarantined cruise ship “Diamond Princess” off the coast of Japan, and then left for Australia.
Meanwhile, the number of victims and infected in China and South Korea continued to rise. As the Beijing Health Commission said on Sunday, 35 more people died of Covid-19 lung disease in China, and 573 new diseases were reported. So far, 2,870 people in China have fallen victim to the novel corona virus. The total number of infections in mainland China was almost 80,000, of which, according to official information, about half has already been cured.
South Korea’s health authorities reported that over the night of Sunday, 376 other people who had contracted the pathogen from Covid-19 lung disease had been recorded. So far, 3526 people have been tested positive for the virus – so many we have nowhere else outside of China. So far, 17 deaths have been linked to the virus in South Korea.
The German leading index DAX slipped more than 5 percent at times on Friday due to concerns about a coronavirus pandemic. The trading day closed the darkest week since the stock market crash in August 2011 – back then in the middle of the euro debt crisis.
Hamster runners occurred in some German supermarkets – even in countries where no infection has yet been confirmed. Customers increasingly resorted to long-lasting foods and beverages. Shelves with cleaning wipes or disinfectants were also empty. After assessing the trade, there are no shortages.
Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn, however, described protective equipment that was no longer available, for example, as a “big issue” for doctors – because countries, hospitals and private individuals all over the world bought in stock, the CDU politician told the “Welt am Sonntag”. Manufacturers in Germany are often dependent on primary products from China themselves. “We should not be so dependent on other regions of the world for drugs or protective equipment.” / Sfi / DP / mis
BERLIN (dpa-AFX)
Image sources: Lightspring / Shutterstock.com, Dominik Butzmann / SPD
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