German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in quarantine after her doctor tested positive for the coronavirus.
Merkel, 65, was warned about her physician’s diagnosis on Sunday after she gave a press conference on the German government’s efforts to contain the virus, according to the Associated Press. Merkel was given a vaccine against pneumococcal infections on Friday, which could inoculate the chancellor from contracting other diseases, such as pneumonia, if she is infected by the coronavirus.
Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said the chancellor would undergo daily tests for the coronavirus while she continues working from isolation.
On Wednesday, Merkel delivered a rare televised address to the country about the COVID-19 virus after she was criticized for making limited public appearances amid the global pandemic. The German chancellor compared the virus to World War II in the amount of mass cooperation required by German citizens.
“This is serious. And we must take it seriously,” Merkel said. “There has been no such challenge to our country since German reunification — no, not since the Second World War II — that relies so heavily on us all working together in solidarity.”
Germany on Sunday additionally banned public gatherings of more than two people in an effort to combat the spread of the virus, stopping short of confining people to their homes as fellow European country Italy has done.
