Germany will foot the bill for treating novel coronavirus patients taken in from neighbouring European Union countries as a gesture of goodwill, Health Minister Jens Spahn said, according to AFP.

More than 200 seriously ill Covid-19 patients from other EU nations are currently in German intensive care units, at a cost of about $21.7 million.

“Germany will cover the treatment costs of these patients, that is what we understand by European solidarity,” Spahn said. “The willingness and capacity is there to admit more if necessary,” he added.