MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th March, 2020) Lothar Wieler, the head of the German disease control institute, said Sunday that the country should expect the scale of medical equipment shortages seen in coronavirus-hit Italy.
Speaking with the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, the director of the Robert Koch Institute said he could not rule out that Germany would have more critical patients than ventilators.
"Whether that happens is speculation. In any case, we must expect that capacities will not be enough, that is clear," he said.
Germany is still at the beginning of the epidemic and will only see in mid-April whether social distancing measures are working, the senior health official added.
The Institute estimates the number of infections nationwide at 52,547, with 389 deaths, although three of the 16 states are yet to submit their data for Sunday. Italy has 73,880 infection cases, including 10,779 deaths.
