Europe engulfed by coronavirus: Angela Merkel warns around 58 MILLION Germans – 60-70% of the population – will be infected as Spain sees infections triple in two days
Angela Merkel warns as many as 70 per cent of Germans could become infected with the deadly coronavirus
Chancellor’s prediction would see 58 million of 82 million population of Germany contract the spreading virus
Health Minister Jens Spahn confirmed the figures if a vaccine is not developed before contagion takes hold
Germany so far has seen two fatalities and registered 1,139 cases of virus and has cancelled public events
Spain saw a surge of virus cases reach 1,622 infections and 35 deaths as schools and universities were closed
By CHRIS DYER
DAILYMAIL.COM
10 March 2020
As many as ’60 to 70 per cent’ of Germans will be infected with the deadly coronavirus, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned today as the contagion threatened to spread across the continent.
The infection is now transmitting between humans in nearly 30 countries across Europe, the World Health Organization has warned today.
Fears of the life-threatening infection have now engulfed the continent, which has recorded more than 17,000 cases and over 700 deaths.
Europe’s crisis – centred in northern Italy but now rapidly spreading – began with a handful of imported cases from China, where the outbreak began.
But WHO chiefs have now confirmed local transmission – when an infection spreads within a country – in twenty-seven European nations.
Addressing a parliamentary group meeting of her Christian Democratic Union party in Berlin today, Merkel said up to 58 million of her countrymen could contract the fast-spreading contagion.
When she made the announcement there was silence among other politicians at the meeting, according to German newspaper Bild.
Merkel told her party: ‘Sixty to 70 per cent of people in Germany will become infected with the coronavirus.’
Germany, which has so far seen two deaths from the disease that has infected more than 110,000 people worldwide, has a population of 82.9 million people.
Health Minister Jens Spahn confirmed the Chancellor’s figures if a vaccine is not developed before the virus takes hold of Europe.
The announcement in Germany came as the number of virus cases in Spain surged to 1,622 infections and 35 deaths.
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