- Title: Clinics expand services as first coronavirus fatalities hit Germany
- Date: 9th March 2020
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (MARCH 9, 2020) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** MEDICAL STAFF WITH FACE MASK AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING WALKING TO SPEAK TO PATIENTS VARIOUS OF MEDICAL STAFF MEMBER SPEAKING TO PATIENTS IN FACE MASKS ON HOSPITAL GROUNDS SIGN READING: CLARIFICATION CENTRE CORONAVIRUS ENTRANCE PATIENTS IN FACE MASKS ON HOSPITAL GROUNDS ENTRANCE TO BERLIN VIVANTES CLINIC GANGELT IN HEINSBERG DISTRICT (RECENT - FEBRUARY 2020) (REUTERS) SIGN WELCOMING PEOPLE TO HEINSBERG DISTRICT VARIOUS OF EMPTY TOWN CENTRE HEINSBERG BERLIN, GERMANY (MARCH 9, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL GOING UP TO ADDRESS AN ECONOMIC FORUM (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "We are all experiencing how the virus is spreading out across the world from China. And this virus has now arrived in our country and will continue to spread. That doesn't mean that all we have done in Germany and across the world to halt the spread, including quarantine measures, has been in vain. It is also not at all irrelevant that we are taking measures because the virus can't be stopped anyway." MERKEL SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN CHANCELLOR ANGELA MERKEL, SAYING: "Since the beginning of the year we have been dealing with a new virus which is highly contagious and for which there is no vaccine. And the experts at the Robert Koch Institute have explained again and again that in a situation like this the most effective means against the virus is to gain time: On the one hand to reduce the pressure on the doctors and hospitals that would ensue if a lot of people were to become ill with coronavirus within a very short space of time. So the most effective tool against the virus is to slow it down and to stretch out its development." MERKEL SPEAKING GROSS-GERAU, GERMANY (MARCH 9, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DOCTOR ROXANA SAUER PUTTING PROTECTIVE CLOTHING ON VARIOUS OF SAUER TAKING SWAB FROM NOSE OF WOMAN IN CAR SIGN READING: If there is a suspicion of coronavirus - you had contact with anyone with the virus or were in a high risk area: China, South Korea or Northern Italy, please register at reception and you will be helped. CLOSE OF SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF GROSS-GERAU CLINIC, ERIKA RAAB, SAYING: "Patients tell us per telephone that they are here, then they are looked at at triage. There we basically ask whether they have come from certain areas and whether they are part of the high risk group, whether they have symptoms. Then we decide if a test is necessary and if the answer is yes then we tell them the time that we will do the test. We organise this in a way that best uses our resources and offers the most protection, so certain patients come at certain times and only a certain amount. The test happens in the parking lot. The doctor goes to the patient, takes a swab and scabs the medical card and that's all. The patient can then go home. We call the lab. The lab collects samples twice a day and the patient gets the result within 24 hours." GRAPHICS SHOWING HOW TO WASH HANDS PROPERLY VARIOUS OF HANDS BEING WASHED SIGN TELLING PEOPLE TO KEEP DISTANCE HAND WASHING POSTER HANDS BEING DISINFECTED RAAB GOING TO RECEPTION SIGN READING: STOP PLEASE KEEP DISTANCE
- Embargoed: 23rd March 2020 17:15
- Keywords: German Chancellor Angela Merkel Germany Heinsberg coronavirus fatality first death
- Location: BERLIN, GROSS GERAU + GANGELT IN HEINSBERG, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GROSS GERAU + GANGELT IN HEINSBERG, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C4BY4W7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Germany on Monday (March 9) confirmed the country's first fatality in the western district of Heinsberg, from the coronavirus and reported over 200 new confirmed cases.
The number of cases rose to 1,112, up from 902 reported on Sunday. The largest number of the cases, 484, were in the western region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state.
As the virus spreads though Germany hospitals are taking measures to spread out resources and find ways to manage patient influx.
At a Berlin Vivantes clinic two new coronavirus walk-in clinics have been set up where people can get information. Doctors decide after a consultation whether treatment is necessary.
Doctors and the Robert Koch Institute have called for tests to only be carried out where there is genuine concern.
In Gross-Gerau, south of Frankfurt, one clinic has introduced a drive-in clinic where people can get tested and advised in their cars.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that efforts would now focus on slowing the virus to allow the medical community time to respond to the more severe cases.
Despite the virus spreading Merkel said efforts undertaken so far were not in vain.
(Production: Martin Schlicht, Micha Serr, Tanya Wood) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None