Virologist calls for nationwide school closings

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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The spread of the corona virus in Germany could still be contained through decisive action, says top virologist Prof. Alexander Kekulé.

14-day "Corona vacation" all over Germany? School and daycare closings, cancellation of all major events, extensive domestic German travel waiver and testing of all people with flu symptoms for the Sars-CoV-2 virus - if these measures were applied over 14 days, the spread of the coronavirus in Germany could still be contained.

The renowned virologist Prof. Alexander Kekulé, director at the Institute for Medical Microbiology at the University of Halle, said on Wednesday on Deutschlandfunk.

His argumentation: At the moment, many symptom-free or slightly ill infected people in Germany would spread the virus unnoticed. Since the disease usually breaks out within 14 days, decisive measures could prevent a large part of the infectious contacts and quarantine the infected before they infect many people.

At the same time, Kekulé warned emphatically against "super horror scenarios" for the spread of the corona virus in Germany. The virologist is optimistic that the epidemic in this country will be less severe than in China due to the good medical care.

However, important measures were missed at the beginning of the epidemic, including entry controls.

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