Merkel’s initial coronavirus test came back negative: Spokesman

BERLIN: Angela Merkel’s initial test for COVID-19 came back negative, a government spokesman said on Monday (Mar 23), adding that the German chancellor would undergo further tests.

She will continue to undergo further tests over the next few days, her spokesman said earlier on Monday.

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German Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz said earlier on Monday that Merkel was healthy but working from home.

She had on Friday afternoon received a vaccine shot against pneumococcus, a pneumonia-causing bacteria, from a doctor who later tested positive for COVID-19. 

Merkel then went into quarantine on Sunday.

The German chancellor had said in a televised press briefing earlier on Sunday that Germany would ban public meetings of more than two people, amid a raft of further measures.

For at least the next two weeks, people will not be allowed to form groups of three or more in public unless they live together in the same household, or the gathering is work-related.

Restaurants can only serve patrons via takeaway, while hairdressers and beauty, massage and tattoo parlours must close.

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