Germany Calls the Coronavirus Pandemic the “Biggest Challenge Since World War II”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke to the country’s citizens in a televised speech last night, in which she called the coronavirus the biggest German challenge since World War II.

So far, 10,000 people in the country have tested positive for the coronavirus. “It’s serious. Take it seriously. Since the Second World War, there have never been challenges for our country where our common solidarity is as important as it is now,” Merkel said.

In the speech, she appealed to the Germans’ sense of responsibility: “I am convinced that we can handle this task if all citizens really perceive it as their personal task. The goal is to slow down the progress of the coronavirus. This means minimising threats to individuals and society. And we are the single most important tool in the fight against the virus,” Angela Merkel explained.

“We are not doomed to passively accept the spread of the virus. We have a cure: We have to keep our distance. Right now, distance is an expression of care,” she continued.

“Let me assure you. The right to travel freely is, to me, the result of a hard struggle, so restrictions on our freedom of movement can only be justified if absolutely necessary,” Angela Merkel concluded.