The spread of coronavirus in a district at the epicentre of Germany’s outbreak will be examined for what scientists have described as a first-of-its-kind study.
A team of student researchers, led by a top virologist, will carry out tests in Heinsberg, a district in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
As of Tuesday, there were 1,238 confirmed infections and 32 deaths in the district, according to data collected by Germany’s Robert Koch Institute.
Heinsberg was among the earliest and most severely affected areas in Germany, leading to comparisons with Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus first emerged.
The purpose of the study is to determine how the coronavirus has spread in the district and which social-distancing measures can most effectively contain it.
Professor Hendrik Streeck, the head of virology at the University of Bonn, said the study could be a “big chance for the whole of Germany” and the world.
“We’ll be gathering information and practical tips as to how to deal with Covid-19 and how we can achieve further containment of it, without our lives having to come to a standstill over a period of years,” Prof Streeck said during a live-streamed briefing to local politicians.
A group of 1,000 people from a village in Heinsberg have been selected to take part in the study, which started on Tuesday morning.
The study hopes to offer recommendations on how the German government might handle the coronavirus pandemic in the coming years.
Mr Streeck said he was not aware of any similar experiments in other coronavirus hotspots across the world.
Source: BBC
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