Sealing Germany’s borders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus would not work, Health Minister Jens Spahn has said, rejecting calls to follow neighbor Austria in denying entry to visitors from Italy.

Interviewed on Deutschlandfunk radio, Spahn said the focus of Germany’s current approach to the epidemic was to slow the virus’s spread to minimize the peak burden on the country’s health system. He described as “astonishing” the failure to call off a major Berlin football fixture this weekend, reported Reuters.

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