An inside look at the Wuhan visit that helped shape German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s response to COVID-19 by Andreas__Rinke
FILE PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel poses for pictures on a bridge crossing the Yangtze River in Wuhan, China September 7, 2019. REUTERS/Andreas Rinke
Merkel - unlike leaders including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Donald Trump - supported a quick lockdown and widespread testing. These are two elements that have been widely credited by epidemiologists for keeping Germany’s reported fatalities lower than many countries, especially outside Asia. Germany has reported almost 9,000 COVID-19 deaths, versus more than 110,000 in the United States and over 40,000 in the United Kingdom, according to a Reuters tally.
Germany also briefly turned inwards, banning exports of medical supplies, but then reversed that. Merkel, while agreeing the WHO needs to be reformed, spoke out to defend international alliances which are working to develop a vaccine. Everyone was concerned about the economy. China is Germany’s biggest trading partner, and goods worth 206 billion euros were traded between the two countries in 2019, German Statistics Office figures show.
Days later, its first known cases of COVID-19 arose in a Bavaria-based company that Merkel had visited in Wuhan. Asked to comment, China’s foreign ministry said it and Germany had worked together and helped each other in the fight against the coronavirus, adding that the WHO as an international institution cannot serve only one country. “At present, the suppression or even blackmail of the WHO by some countries lacks the minimum humanitarian spirit and will not be accepted by the international community,” it said in a statement to Reuters.
Those close to Merkel said she had waited to step in publicly until the problem justified a nationwide response. “In the past three months I have learned a lot from Merkel about how to act in crises,” said one state premier who is not generally a fan of the chancellor.Nevertheless, as countries worldwide realised the risks of infection, many – including Germany – joined a self-interested scramble for protective gear.
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