‘Not since World War II’: Merkel implores Germany to rise to the challenge of pandemic

The Friedrichstrasse, a major thoroughfare in Berlin, was almost empty on Sunday. Warning that Germany was facing its greatest challenge since World War II, Chancellor Angela Merkel made a rare prime-time television appeal to her country on Thursday to take the coronavirus threat seriously — even though the nation’s death toll has remained remarkably low at 28 out of more than 12,300 confirmed cases. “Not since German reunification — no, not since World War II — has our country faced a challenge that has required such a high degree of common and united action. I’m convinced that we can succeed as long as everyone truly understands what’s needed.” Although many of the 82 million living in Germany have followed government guidelines on social distancing and shutting down most nonessential businesses, some younger people in particular have bristled at the clampdown and cited the comparatively low risk of serious health complications for younger and healthy people. “We’re all full of questions and worries about what’s going to happen next.” Thanks to its strong healthcare system, national health insurance for everyone, its vast network of hospitals and its high per-capita numbers of intensive care beds, Germany has so far succeeded in keeping its mortality rate associated with the coronavirus extremely low compared with other countries.