MERKEL’S IN QUARANTINE

As Germany bans gatherings of more than TWO

GERMANY’S leader went into quarantine last night after meeting a doctor infected with the coronavirus.

Only hours before, Angela Merkel had announced a countrywide ban on social meetings of more than two people.

Miss Merkel’s spokesman confirmed that the Chancellor would be working from home in coming days – and undergoing repeated testing for the virus.

The 65-year-old was told yesterday that a doctor who had recently given her a vaccine against pneumococcal infections, which can cause pneumonia and meningitis, was suffering from the virus.

Her spokesman Steffen Seibert said last night: ‘The Chancellor has decided to quarantine herself at home. She will be tested regularly in the coming days... [and] fulfil her official business from home.’ Earlier in the day, the

German leader had been asked if she was social distancing.

‘My life has fundamentally changed and mostly consists of telephone and video conferences,’ she replied.

Despite more than 24,000 cases, Germany has so far managed to keep the death toll relatively low – with figures last night showing 92 sufferers have died.

But Miss Merkel showed that she would enforce drastic measures to safeguard her citizens – yesterday telling them not to have meetings of more than two people in a social context. The new rules will last at least two weeks. Like the UK, restaurants can now only offer takeaway services and hairdressers, beauty salons as well as tattoo parlours must all close.

‘The great aim is to gain time in the fight against the virus,’ she said before news of her going into self-isolation broke.

She added that ‘our own behaviour is the most effective way’ of slowing the rate of infection. She also appealed to Germans’ ‘reason and empathy’, adding: ‘That’s how we can save lives.’

Families living under the same roof are allowed to be together in larger groups.

Miss Merkel also spoke of how staying two metres apart could protect people from the virus with the infection rate at that distance ‘close to zero’.

This weekend, Miss Merkel was spotted shopping at a German supermarket.

‘She will undergo repeated testing’