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Stuart Lau

Europe’s leaders on Wednesday gave some blunt assessments of the fight ahead against the Covid-19 epidemic, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying up to 70 per cent of the country may get infected. French President Emmanuel Macron said the outbreak in his country was “at the very beginning”.
In Hungary, the government announced a state of national crisis and issued a travel ban on all visitors from Italy, China, South Korea and Iran.
In Britain, junior health minister Nadine Dorries has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, after showing symptoms on Thursday – the same day she attended a Downing Street event hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
More than 700 people have been killed by the disease in Europe, of which more than 630 were in Italy. The number of confirmed infections is close to 18,000, according to the World Health Organisation.


Merkel pulled no punches as she chaired her first press conference on the epidemic in Berlin.
“Once the virus has arrived [in Germany], and we do not have immunity in the population at all to this virus, and yet there is no option for either vaccination or treatment, a high percentage of experts say 60 to 70 per cent of the population will become infected,” she said.
Speaking alongside Merkel, Lothar Wieler, head of Germany’s federal research institute on infectious diseases, said that “60 to 70 per cent of humanity” could get infected.
“It might take months, it might take years to spread through our country,” he said.
Wuhan doctor says officials muzzled her for sharing report
The chancellor said the key to fighting the virus was “gaining time”, so that the peak of the outbreak could be delayed while scientists could work on developing treatments or vaccines.
She called on Germans to understand measures such as barring spectators at football matches as such moves could “contribute to ensuring that people who are old, people who are sick” did not get infected.
“We have to have a heart for these people,” she said.


Germany has introduced a screening system for exports of medical equipment, given the surge in local demand.
“It doesn’t mean we are not exporting anything at the moment,” Merkel said. “We just want to scrutinise exports to ensure they go to the right people who really need them.”
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Macron said France was “only at the beginning of this epidemic” that has killed 30 people in the country and infected 1,606, the second highest number of infections in Europe after Italy.
While transport links with Italy have been severely disrupted, European leaders were eager to offer assurance that borders would remain open.
Slovenia’s Health Minister Ales Sabeder said on Wednesday that the country, which has 47 confirmed cases, would keep its border with Italy open, but would perform health checks there to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.


In Spain, the government has banned all indoor gatherings of more than 1,000 people in the most affected regions – Madrid, the Rioja wine-growing region and two areas in the northern Basque Country – while all La Liga football matches will be played behind closed doors for at least two weeks.
Across the Madrid region, parents were preparing for a two-week school shutdown starting on Wednesday, which will affect more than 1.5 million pupils, with tens of thousands more hit by school shutdowns in Rioja and in the Basque Country.
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Spain’s Health Minister Salvador Illa said the country was “working on avoiding the Italian scenario” and vowed to take additional measures “if we have to”.
The country has reported 36 deaths from Covid-19, which is the highest fatality rate in Europe after Italy.


The European Commission (EC) said it would ensure airlines kept their routes even though they might be forced to suspend them due to the epidemic.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday it was “taking stock of the available protective equipment and respiratory devices as well as their production and distribution capacity”.
“Those are crucial for the entire health sector,” she said.
The EC would also assemble a team of epidemiologists and virologists from different member states “to give us guidelines on the European level”, she said.


The EC has already pledged €25 billion (US$28.4 billion) to support health care systems, small businesses and labour markets in the 27 countries of the European Union.
The Bank of England on Wednesday announced an emergency cut in interest rates to 0.25 per cent from 0.75 per cent, as it forecast economic activity to “weaken materially” over the coming months.

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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: German Chancellor Angela Merkel says up to 70 per cent of Germans may get infected

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz pulled no punches when talking about the harm the coronavirus outbreak could cause. Photo: AFP

China sends team of medical experts, gear to help Italy fight coronavirus

A medical worker holds out a test kit outside an emergency facility in Brescia, northern Italy on Tuesday. The nation is the worst-hit after China. Photo: AP

epa08252995 Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio during the meeting with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian (not pictured), during the Franco-Italian summit, in Naples, Italy, 27 February 2020. EPA-EFE/CIRO FUSCO

epa08216009 Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi attends a joint press statement at the Villa Borsig in Berlin, Germany, 13 February 2020. Chinese Foreign Minister visits the German capital prior to attending Munich Security Conference. EPA-EFE/HAYOUNG JEON

Coronavirus latest: China’s imported cases rise as Italy reports deadliest day

Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, deserted as Italy’s lockdown continues. Photo: Xinhua

Coronavirus: Wuhan doctor says officials muzzled her for sharing report on WeChat

Ai Fen was reprimanded by a hospital supervisor for “spreading rumours” after she shared a patient’s diagnostic report on WeChat. Photo: Handout

The Chinese doctor who shared the coronavirus information in social media spoke to the media for the first time that she had suffered unprecedented and strict reprimand by her hospital and WuhanÕs relevant authority.Ai Fen, director of the emergency department in WuhanÕs Central Hospital, said itÕs she who took the picture of a patientÕs report in late Dec that confirmed a patient with high fever and lung damage in her hospital was infected with a Sars-like coronavirus, Southern People Weekly reported on Tuesday. The report offered a rare glimpse about how WuhanÕs local disease prevention and control authority missed the golden opportunity to contain the outbreak in the early stage and turned out to repress the medical professionals for Òcreating rumoursÓ. HANDOUT PHOTO/ Southern People Weekly

Coronavirus: Taiwan deploys chemical warfare team at airport to disinfect 361 citizens repatriated from Wuhan

The passengers were met off the plane by soldiers from the 33rd Chemical Warfare Group. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa08285015 A handout photo made available by the Ministry of National Defence shows soldiers in protectivie suits disinfecting people from a China Eastern Airlines plane after it landed at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, 11 March 2020. On 11 March, Taiwan chartered two planes, one from Taiwan's China Airlines and one from China's China Eastern Airlines, to evacuate a total of 361 Taiwanese citizens from Wuhan, China, which has been locked down since the outbreat of the most recently discovered coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19. EPA-EFE/MINISTRY OF NATIONAL DEFENSE / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

A handout photo made available by the Ministry of National Defence shows soldiers in protectivie suits disinfecting people from a China Eastern Airlines plane after it landed at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, 11 March 2020. On 11 March, Taiwan chartered two planes, one from Taiwan's China Airlines and one from China's China Eastern Airlines, to evacuate a total of 361 Taiwanese citizens from Wuhan, China, which has been locked down since the outbreat of the most recently discovered coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19. Photo: Central Epidemic Command Centre in Taiwan

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European leaders say fight against coronavirus is just starting
French President Emmanuel Macron says outbreak ‘at the very beginning’



Coronavirus: German Chancellor Angela Merkel says up to 70 per cent of Germans may get infected

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} European leaders say fight against coronavirus is just starting French President Emmanuel Macron says outbreak ‘at the very beginning’

European leaders say fight against coronavirus is just starting

French President Emmanuel Macron says outbreak ‘at the very beginning’