In a government declaration in the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) on 4 March, German health minister Jens Spahn said coronavirus infections had reached pandemic levels within Germany – although that has not been declared by the World Health Organization ̶ based on the advice of the Germany’s Robert Koch-Institut (RKI), which has issued a national pandemic plan.
Spahn had earlier sat with senior ministry colleagues and federal state representatives to devise a plan of action to control...