ZCZC
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HEALTH-VIRUS-GERMANY-POLITICS
German minister quarantines over virus exposure fear
BERLIN, Sept 23, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas
quarantined himself on Wednesday after one of his security staff tested
positive for coronavirus, a ministry spokeswoman said.
Maas returned a negative result in a preliminary test carried out on
Wednesday, she said in a statement.
“The foreign ministry is working with public health authorities to
determine whether further people are affected and other measures are
necessary,” she said, adding that anyone who might have been exposed would be
contacted.
Maas was in Brussels on Monday meeting his EU counterparts as well as
Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
Chancellor Angela Merkel in March put herself in quarantine after seeing a
doctor who tested positive for the coronavirus but all of her subsequent
tests came back negative.
Germany has not suffered the kind of impact from the pandemic seen in many
other European countries but its infection numbers are rising.
On Wednesday, it recorded 1,769 cases, bringing the total so far to
275,927.
The number of deaths rose by 13 at 9,409, according to the Robert Koch
Institute for disease control.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1920 hrs