Coronavirus: Border closures inevitable if infections not curbed, says Merkel aide

Germany may need to close borders to neighboring countries if they do not act to curb coronavirus infections, Merkel’s chief of staff said on Thursday.

Helge Braun, German medical doctor and politician of the Christian Democratic Union, told ARD television it was important to get infection levels under control so that countries could protect themselves from new, more transmissible strains of the virus.

Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.

“The danger is that when the infections in a country go up, this mutation becomes a quasi-majority variant and then the infection can no longer be controlled,” he said.

“And therefore, even stricter entry rules at our internal borders are unavoidable, and since everyone does not want that, it is important that we act together now.”

Read more:

Germany takes on record debt in 2020 to shield economy from pandemic

Germany to make it compulsory to sequence coronavirus samples

Germany prepares for more COVID-19 preventative measures