The United States is particularly hard hit by the corona pandemic. A harrowing record death toll is now apparently in New York. All information in the news blog.
Worldwide, more than 1.9 million people are using the Corona virus infected, more than 125,000 infected have died. Today, the Prime Ministers will discuss whether and in what form the restrictions in Germany will continue from April 20.
New York reaches 10,000 corona deaths
So far, significantly more people could have died in the corona pandemic in the metropolis of New York than expected. The city on the east coast of the US added 3,778 “likely” Covid 19 deaths to its death toll on Tuesday (local time) – increasing the death toll in New York City to over 10,000.
The additional numbers include, among others, sick people who died in the emergency room, at home or in a care facility but who were not officially tested positive for the virus. According to media reports, local authorities attribute the assumption that the dead were suffering from Covid-19 to their symptoms. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore initially counted far fewer than 10,000 for the city of New York with over 7,900 corona deaths. In total, approximately 128,000 people have died from the corona virus in the United States.
Bavarian infection control law questioned by the Bundestag
A report by the Bundestag’s scientific service doubts the legality of the Bavarian Infection Protection Act to contain the corona pandemic. Specifically, the criticism of the five-page report available to the German Press Agency relates to the possibilities regulated in the state law to confiscate medical material and to oblige medical and nursing staff for certain work.
In order to use these powers, the government must first declare a health emergency. On March 25, the Bavarian state parliament passed the Infection Protection Act. Since the seizures are also regulated in the Federal Infection Protection Act (IfSG), the experts see a direct consequence for the Bavarian law. They assume that one of the paragraphs in the law has a blocking effect with regard to regulations for the supply of the population with medical and sanitary material, it says. The obligation option for doctors and nurses is interpreted even more critically. The federal law does not contain such a regulation, although this was originally intended.
International Monetary Fund warns of “new protests”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned of social unrest over the coronavirus pandemic. In some countries, there could be “new protests” if measures to alleviate the Covid 19 crisis were felt to be inadequate, the IMF wrote in a report submitted. There can also be unrest if the impression arises that the aid would “unfairly” benefit large companies rather than the population.
The IMF warned that the risk was particularly high in countries where there was already “widespread corruption”, a lack of transparency in government measures and poor public services. The report points to social unrest in recent years that arose from displeasure with economic policy measures, for example in Ecuador, Chile, Haiti, Iran and France with the “yellow vest” movement.
Gerd Müller: “Germany will increase funding for WHO”
US President Donald Trump has received criticism worldwide with his payment freeze for the World Health Organization (WHO). German Development Minister Gerd Müller is one of the critics. “WHO needs to be strengthened now, not weakened. Reducing funds amid the pandemic is the wrong way to go,” he told Reuters. “Germany will increase its funding for WHO,” he announced. Because Corona will not be the last pandemic. “Experts have already identified 40 other viruses that have the potential to trigger pandemics.”
Crisis cabinet: Shops up to 800 square meters should open again soon
The federal government wants to make it possible to reopen shops with a sales area of up to 800 square meters. The Reuters news agency is said to already have a draft of the Corona Cabinet’s draft resolution in which this is emerging. The harsh contact restrictions that have been in effect for several weeks are therefore to be extended until May 3. Read more about this here.
Government spokesman Steffen Seibert: He informed about the meeting of the Corona crisis cabinet. (Source: IPON / imago images)
US retail sales hit record lows
US retailers contracted at a record pace in March due to the Corona crisis. They fell 8.7 percent from the previous month, the Department of Commerce in Washington said. This is the sharpest decline since statistics began in 1992. Economists surveyed by the Reuters news agency had assumed an eight percent drop. In February, revenue had only dropped by 0.2 percent. Because of the corona pandemic, millions of Americans lost their jobs within a short period of time last month, while numerous businesses have had to remain closed.
BER has to postpone trial run
The operators of the new capital city airport BER have postponed the first trial run with extras planned for the end of April to the summer due to the corona crisis. The industry portal Aviationnetonline had previously reported. Lütke Daldrup emphasized that the opening date of the airport, which is planned for the end of October, is not in danger. The extras should take part in a fire protection and evacuation exercise at the main terminal and at the airport station that day. Further extras tests, in which the processes at BER are to be practiced, are planned for June and July.
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Government: “Avoid all high spirits, negligence”
The Federal Government urges caution in the event of a gradual relaxation of the harsh restrictions due to the Corona crisis. “So the path we have to take in the next few weeks is a narrow line between careful, gradual easing and preserving our progress in the fight against the epidemic,” said government spokesman Steffen Seibert after a meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel with the Corona cabinet. A proposal for a resolution had been drawn up with which Merkel plans to go into discussions with the Prime Ministers of the federal states in the afternoon about possible easing.
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Seibert said the federal government “is aware that we have all achieved something together in the fight against the virus – the people of Germany, citizens and the state – but that we must now avoid any arrogance or negligence in order not to jeopardize this achievement “. This is to avoid falling back into an uncontrolled exponential spread of the virus.
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Border controls should apply for a further 20 days
According to the will of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the controls at German borders introduced in the Corona crisis should apply for a further 20 days, security circles say. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer wanted to talk to the Prime Minister about details. The controls were introduced a month ago. Since then, the borders with Austria, France, Luxembourg, Denmark and Switzerland have been monitored. However, there is no control at the crossings to Belgium and the Netherlands.
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In principle, entries from third countries into the EU are only permitted in selected cases. Since April 10, with a few exceptions, all returnees have had to go into quarantine for two weeks after spending several days abroad.
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EU launches online fundraising for Corona vaccine
In order to raise money worldwide for the development and production of a vaccine against Covid-19, the EU Commission is organizing an online donor conference on May 4th. This will help to close immediate funding gaps, said Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels. Together with EU Council President Charles Michel, she proposed such a conference at a video conference of the G20 countries at the end of March.
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The corona virus can only be defeated through international cooperation, said von der Leyen. This includes speeding up work on diagnosis, treatment and vaccines. As soon as there was a vaccine, it had to be made available around the world. This is the best way to defeat the virus, said the CDU politician. She hoped that organizations and countries around the world responded to this call.
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The federal government proposes that the states limit their contact by May 3
The federal government wants to propose to the federal states that the existing contact restrictions for citizens should be maintained at least until May 3rd. This emerges from the minutes of the switching conference of the Chancellery with the heads of state chancellor of the federal states on Tuesday, which is available at t-online.de. Read more on the topic here.
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Disability officer demands professional protective masks
The Federal Government’s Commissioner for the Disabled, Jürgen Dusel, speaks out in the debate about easing the Corona measures to equip certain risk groups with professional protective masks. “People who are particularly at risk of infection should be provided with appropriate FFP2 protective masks as soon as possible so that they, too, have the opportunity to move freely in the public space when needed, for example to go shopping or go to work,” he said.
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Jürgen Dusel, Federal Government Commissioner for the Matters of People with Disabilities (Source: Soeren Stache / dpa)
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It is about “a risk-free, but self-determined life for all people,” said Dusel – “also in the pandemic”. In general, wearing a simple mouth-and-nose protection “in individual areas of public space” should be recommended.
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The number of short-time registrations rose to over 700,000
The number of companies in Germany that have registered short-time work has risen to 725,000. This was announced by the Federal Employment Agency on Wednesday in Nuremberg. As of April 13, the number had grown by twelve percent compared to the previous week. A week earlier, 650,000 companies had registered short-time work. The Federal Agency’s special evaluation does not record how many people are affected. This number can only be determined after the factories have settled. At the Federal Agency, according to the information, 8,000 employees now work on short-time work, ten times as many as in normal times.
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Federal government: economy in recession since March
The federal government expects the economy to shrink as a result of the Corona crisis by early summer. “The German economy has been in recession since March. This is expected to continue until the middle of the year,” says the recently published monthly report by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The “shutdown”, which will apply from mid-March, is likely to cause the gross domestic product to decrease “noticeably” in the entire first quarter. The negative development is likely to intensify in April. “Even if the first protective measures could be loosened somewhat afterwards, the economy will continue to be very subdued and will only pick up gradually,” said the ministry.
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Teachers’ Association: Schools need preparation time
The President of the German Teachers’ Association, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, has again spoken out against a comprehensive school start right after the Easter holidays. “No, definitely not,” said Meidinger on Wednesday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin” when asked whether he thought it would be responsible if students returned to their classrooms next Monday. Schools should be given time to prepare, for example, hygiene measures and distance rules, and to furnish classrooms accordingly, he emphasized. “It’ll take us a week to get it all done.”
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If the lockdown were eased, it would have to be considered how schools could “re-open gradually”, said Meidinger, referring to the discussions between Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Minister in the afternoon. “This can certainly only happen for individual grades, because we have to form smaller group sizes.”
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Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (Source: Martin Müller / imago images)
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Brandenburg’s Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke also spoke out against opening the school next week. “Maybe we can start with smaller groups of students in a few weeks,” he said. “There are different ideas.” About a third of the students could go to schools. Experts also see it that way. A reopening has to start sensibly and with distance and strict hygiene rules. Otherwise it would not be possible.
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US payment stop to WHO sharply criticized by Maas
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has criticized the stop in US President Donald Trump’s payments to the World Health Organization (WHO). “One of the best investments in the fight against the pandemic is to strengthen the United Nations, especially the underfunded World Health Organization, for example in the development and distribution of tests and vaccines,” said the SPD politician at the dpa news agency. There must be close international cooperation in combating the corona pandemic. “Mutual blame does not help in the corona crisis,” emphasized Maas. The virus knows no borders. Read more about this here.
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Giffey calls for the daycare centers to be opened gradually
Federal Minister of Family Affairs Franziska Giffey has called for the daycare centers to be opened gradually. The National Academy Leopoldina’s suggestion that the facilities should remain largely closed until the summer holidays is “not a good way,” said Giffey in the ARD “Morgenmagazin”. “We have to gradually come back to normal here.” You can read the timetable with recommendations for easing the Leopoldina here.
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Giffey referred, among other things, to the care problems of single parents. It should also be borne in mind that older daycare children need to be prepared for moving to primary school. And there are children who lived “in a rather difficult situation” at home.
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Ramelow: No major events in the long run
According to a media report, Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) argues that some Corona editions will continue for a long time. “For example, major events where people sit or stand closely together will no longer be possible in the long term,” said the head of government in an interview in the “Thuringian General”.
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Until a vaccine was available in large numbers, people would have to cope with a new reality. According to Ramelow, there was “no going back” to the social situation before the outbreak of the pandemic. However, new ways would have to be found quickly, such as services could be made possible in the future.
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More than 2,200 corona deaths in the United States within 24 hours
According to a university in the United States, more people have died than ever before from a new coronavirus infection within 24 hours. By Tuesday evening (local time), experts at Johns Hopkins University in the United States had recorded 2,228 deaths. The previous high was reached last Friday with 2,108 deaths. According to the university, nearly 26,000 people in the United States have died from an infection since the epidemic began.
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Doctors on the US Navy hospital ship in California: Death and infection numbers continue to rise rapidly in the United States. (Source: Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Erwin Jacob Miciano / U.S. Navy / archive picture / AP / dpa)
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The United States is the worst affected country in the world by the pandemic. Nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University numbers, more than 605,000 people have now tested positive for the corona virus.
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Trump is considering easing before May 1st
US president Donald Trump is about to complete a government plan to reopen the American economy. “We think some states will be in really good shape to open even earlier than the end of April,” Trump said on Tuesday. Others, on the other hand, would need more time to get the virus under control first. Trump said he would not push the states to reopen. He “authorizes” state governors to implement the plan at the appropriate time. Read more here.
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US President Donald Trump: feels the headwind of the governors in the corona crisis. (Source: Yuri Gripas / Reuters)
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Return action before graduation
More than 225,000 Germans stranded abroad due to the Corona crisis are at home four weeks after the Federal Government’s return campaign began. As the dpa news agency learned from the Federal Foreign Office, only a “middle four-digit number” of travelers now has to be flown out, most of them from South Africa, Argentina and Peru.
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The largest return campaign in the history of the Federal Republic is likely to be completed in a few days. After that, the embassies will continue to deal with individual cases.
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Denmark is partially opening schools and daycare centers
In Denmark, tens of thousands of children can go back to daycare, kindergarten or school from Wednesday. After progress in the fight against the pandemic, the Scandinavian country is opening its school and daycare facilities for children up to and including the fifth grade. This is intended to relieve parents who previously had to take care of their younger children in addition to working at home in the virus crisis.
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Parents’ representatives against daycare closure until the summer holidays
The nationwide closure of daycare centers presents many parents with the problem of combining everyday work or home office with childcare. Many are therefore troubled by the anxious question: How long will this go on? The federal parents’ representation of the day care centers has now sharply criticized the proposal by scientists not to send younger children to daycare centers until the summer holidays.
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“It misses the reality of the lives of millions of people,” said Ulrike Grosse-Röthig, federal spokeswoman for the parents’ representative, to the newspapers of the Funke media group. No one expects the daycare centers to open fully overnight. But 3.7 million children who stay at home would mean 3.7 million parents who could not do their job.
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Arizona is testing health workers nationwide for antibodies
The US state of Arizona wants to provide antibody tests for 250,000 healthcare workers and first-aiders. The blood tests would show who was exposed to the novel coronavirus and had successfully built up immunity, Dr. Michael Dake, Vice President of the University of Arizona. The university will produce and run the tests.
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South Korea is voting – in the middle of the corona pandemic
In the middle of the corona pandemic, a new parliament will be elected in South Korea on Wednesday. More than 40 million people are called to vote under the strictest distance rules and hygiene measures. Among other things, all voters should wear protective masks and there should be temperature measuring stations at the polling stations.
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Almost 44 million voters were called for the general election. The authorities advised people to wear plastic gloves as well as breathing masks and to keep at least one meter away from the other voters. According to a poll by the Gallup polling institute last week, 72 percent of those eligible to vote were not afraid to vote despite the pandemic.
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General election in South Korea: a woman wears a mask because of the new corona virus and casts her vote in a polling station. (Source: Ahn Young-Joon / AP / dpa)
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Textile Association calls mask production “Herculean task”
The production of adequate protective masks against the virus is a “Herculean task”, according to the association of the German textile and fashion industry. For the production of protective equipment and mouth-nose masks, supply chains would be rebuilt, capacities at nonwovens manufacturers increased and entire production lines converted, said managing director Uwe Mazura of the “Rheinische Post”. “These are supply chains that have not been in demand in Europe for decades; missing machines are procured in many places.”
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The industry is working flat out to rebuild the supply chains and help to produce medical and personal protective equipment, but also everyday masks. “In view of the tremendous dynamics, we can currently not quantify the order of magnitude for mask production in Germany,” said Mazura.
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Trump administration sets up billion dollar program for airlines
The US government will support domestic airlines with a multi-billion dollar rescue package. Ten airlines – including Delta, United, JetBlue and American Airlines – wanted to accept government support, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Tuesday evening (local time). With the help – a mixture of subsidies and loans – the salaries of the employees are to be paid above all to avoid layoffs. According to media reports, the total is around $ 25 billion.
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SPD MP: State should temporarily join Condor
The SPD calls for the state to participate temporarily in the Condor holiday plane. “Condor is an important airline, the state should help,” said the SPD member of the Bundestag and vice-chairman of the Hesse-SPD, Timon Gremmels, the German press agency. “The Economic Stabilization Fund is intended for precisely such cases. If Condor makes an application and criteria are met, the state could temporarily participate in the airline.”
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Söder refuses to open the schools promptly
Unlike some federal states, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder refuses to open the schools promptly after the Easter holidays because of the corona pandemic. “I am very reluctant to go to schools,” said the CSU boss on Tuesday evening in the “heute-journal” of ZDF. He is also skeptical that primary schools should be opened first. “I have a fundamentally different view.” Söder thus distances itself from the announcement from North Rhine-Westphalia that it wants to open the schools step by step after the end of the Easter holidays on April 19, and from a recommendation by the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina to open primary schools first. Read more here.
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Disagreement: Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder does not share the demands of some CDU colleagues. (Source: Overstreet / imago images)
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Maas: Exit strategy must carefully consider all risks
Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned before federal and state deliberations on possible easing of restrictions in the corona crisis to carefully consider all risks. “A look across our borders, where, unfortunately, there are new bitter deaths every day in some countries, shows that every day that contact breaks too early can have dramatic consequences for the health of many people,” said the SPD politician of the “Rhenish Post”.
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Should there be a further sharp increase in infections, Germany could be forced to take even more drastic measures than before. “We have to do everything possible to avoid such a scenario. We need an exit strategy that carefully weighs up all the risks.”
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Satellite images show a decrease in pollution
In Germany, the pollution caused by the corona crisis has decreased. As the “Wirtschaftswoche” reported on Tuesday after evaluating data from the European earth observation satellite Sentinal-5P, less extreme nitrogen dioxide values have been measured in the atmosphere over Central Europe since the beginning of April. Hardly any large clouds of pollutants can be seen on satellite images above German metropolitan areas, the magazine writes.
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The director of earth observation programs at the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, told “Wirtschaftswoche” that the decline in nitrogen dioxide pollution in Germany can be seen in the Ruhr area and on the border with Belgium and the Netherlands. The decline is even more noticeable in southern European cities. a reduction of 65 percent was measured in Barcelona.
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Governor of Rio de Janeiro infected with coronavirus
The state governor of Rio de Janeiro, Wilson Witzel, has tested positive for the corona virus. Witzel announced this on Tuesday (local time). “I haven’t felt good since Friday, had a fever, sore throat, lost my sense of smell and took the test,” said the 52-year-old in a video on Twitter. “Today I got the result.”
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Now he felt better and wanted to continue working. While Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro downplayed the virus and disregarded recommendations for social detachment, Witzel, along with João Doria from São Paulo, is one of the governors in Brazil who has implemented restrictive measures to combat the corona pandemic and has been harshly criticized by Bolsonaro .
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New York City counts suspected cases – 10,000 deaths
The city of New York now also includes suspected cases of death among the authorities responsible. There are 3,700 people who have never been tested on Covid-19, but are likely to have died from the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to the Metropolitan Health Service. With them, the death toll in New York City since March 11 has now reached more than 10,000.
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US governors oppose Trump
In the United States, an open struggle has flared up between President Donald Trump and the governors over a possible relaxation of the strict anti-corona measures. The president claimed absolute powers in the question – and immediately received opposition from governors. “We have no king, we have an elected president,” said New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Read more about this dispute here.
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Left: Partially suspend pension taxation
Left-wing faction leader Dietmar Bartsch has asked that pension taxation be suspended for some pensioners in the Corona crisis. “We should suspend pension taxation this year for people who are old and only receive the statutory pension,” said Bartsch of the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. The tax return is a big concern for many retirees in old age. “And in the times of Corona, the situation is much more difficult for those who need help from third parties.”
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The number of infections in Turkey continues to rise sharply
In Turkey, the number of known coronavirus infections has increased by 4,062 to 65,111 in the past 24 hours, as the Ministry of Health announced in the evening. During the same period, 107 people had died in connection with Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 1,403. In total, almost 4,800 patients have recovered.
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Call between First Ladies
Elke Büdenbender, the wife of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, spoke to the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, about the situation in the corona pandemic. Melania Trump called Büdenbender on Tuesday to inquire about the situation in Germany, the Federal President’s Office told the German Press Agency. “Elke Büdenbender thanked Melania Trump for this special gesture of transatlantic friendship and conveyed her best wishes:” I very much hope that the situation in your country will soon improve and turn for the better. “”
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The two presidential wives exchanged views on the current situation and other planned measures and declared “their special solidarity and sympathy with the people in the United States and Germany”.
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The White House said US President Donald Trump’s wife had affirmed that the United States would help Germany and the rest of Europe fight the pandemic.
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In order to make reading easier and reduce loading times, the editors start the news blog again at this point. You can read about the previous developments in the Corona crisis here.
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