Swine Flu Spreads Rapidly in Germany

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and German Health Minister Ulla Schmidt visit together with Robert Koch Institute vice president Reinhard Burger (back) the Robert Koch Institute on June 23, 2009 in Berlin, Germany. (Henning Schacht-Pool/Getty Images)

HAMBURG—The number of swine flu cases increased sharply in Germany last week.

The Robert Koch Federal Institute, responsible for disease control and prevention, announced on Thursday July 23 an increase of 637 cases in one day. This brought the total number of infected people to 2,445.

German media reported that Joerg Hacker, president of the Robert Koch Institute, said the virus will continue to spread at this rate for a while.  

According to the institute the sharp increase was caused by travel. People are returning from summer vacations to foreign countries, including Spain, where five people have died from the disease.

The German state department has not issued a travel ban for certain countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) believes that further spread of the swine flu cannot be stopped by travel restrictions.

The Robert Koch Institute advised people to avoid group events. German Minister of Health, Ulla Schmidt, disagrees. She said in BILD newspaper that there is no reason to panic. She said she would go to a soccer match.

The German government announced on Friday that it has ordered 50 million doses of H1N1 virus vaccine. The order is sufficient to vaccinate 25 million Germans or around 30 percent of the population.