As some small stores are allowed to reopen in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said “it can also be a mistake to proceed too quickly,” urging people to temper desires for business as usual.
BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she understands the urge to relax coronavirus restrictions as soon as possible, but is criticizing some states for moving too quickly, saying that they’re risking setting back what the country has achieved.
In an address to parliament on Thursday, to lawmakers sitting apart from one another in line with the country’s strict social distancing guidelines, Merkel said even though the numbers of new infections in Germany were starting to slow, there is still much work to be done.
She says “we’re not living in the final phase of the pandemic, but still at the beginning. We will be living with this virus for a long time.”
Without naming names, she said some state governments had moved “in part very briskly, if not to say too briskly” with the process.
In an apparent reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement he would be halting funds to the World Health Organization, Merkel lauded the work of the international agency.
She says “for the German government, I emphasize the WHO is an indispensable partner and we support them in their mandate.”
Kusi / Balkantimes.press