Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases (RKI), addresses a weekly briefing to comment on the current situation concerning the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Berlin, Germany December 3, 2020. Michael Kappeler/Pool via REUTERS
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's success in dealing with the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in March and April had led many people to doubt the virus's severity or even its existence, the head of Germany's public health agency said on Thursday.
Describing the result as a so-called "prevention paradox", Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI), said this meant many were now failing to take social distancing and quarantine seriously enough, leading to the high level of cases Germany is now seeing.
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