BERLIN, APR 9 – German needs to implement nationwide measures to break the current wave of coronavirus infections as quickly as possible, its health minister said on Friday.

“We need a lockdown,” Jens Spahn told journalists in a news conference, adding that nighttime curfews may be necessary to further reduce social contacts.

He said that there were currently nearly 4,500 patients in intensive care in Germany, adding: “If this continues, it will be too much for our health system.”