German health official: be vigilant, or undo progress we've made

"Alongside the positive developments, we are currently seeing a few clear signs of the trend turning," Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for Infectious Diseases, told a news conference on Friday. At the joint news conference with Health Minister Jens Spahn, Wieler also urged Germans not to refuse a vaccine if offered one.

The head of Germany's RKI health institute warned the public to be vigilant in upholding social distancing since there was a risk otherwise of undoing progress in controlling coronavirus case numbers and triggering a third wave of the epidemic. "Alongside the positive developments, we are currently seeing a few clear signs of the trend turning," Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for Infectious Diseases, told a news conference on Friday.

At the joint news conference with Health Minister Jens Spahn, Wieler also urged Germans not to refuse a vaccine if offered one. Officials have expressed growing disquiet over the numbers of doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine being left untaken by nervous Germans.