Germany to Contribute 525 Million Euros to Fight Coronavirus

“The pandemic is a global challenge. That is why we can only beat it if we take global action,” stressed German Chancellor Angela Merkel at an international pledging event on May 4.

Germany has decided to contribute 525 million euros to the fight against the coronavirus. Contributions pledged by more than 40 countries and organizations totaled 7.4 billion euros.

“I believe the 4th of May will mark a turning point in our fight against COVID-19, because today the world is coming together,” said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, when she opened the online pledging event she was hosting.

At the conference, governments from over 40 states announced their financial contribution to the fight against COVID-19. At the end of the day, 7.4 billion euros came together in pledges for the Global Response Initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners.

This initiative aims to bring together all international research efforts to develop and deploy COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments, and a vaccine. Once these are available, they are to be equitably shared.

Meanwhile, Germany has decided to relax restrictions even as the coronavirus cases are increasing in the country. In April, after the lockdown relaxation for about a week, Germany’s coronavirus infection rate had gone up and people were advised again to stay at home.

With nearly 200,000 cases, the virus reproduction rate is now higher at 1.0 while it was 0.7 before the relaxation in Germany. Now, on average, one person can infect another. But Chancellor Merkel has decided to put profits before people and lifted restrictions again in order to protect her political future.