Germany's Altmaier: Pandemic has accelerated to an unexpected extent

The coronavirus pandemic in Germany has accelerated to an unexpected extent, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Thursday, as reported by Reuters.

Additional takeaways

"We need to preserve the basis of our economic success through the pandemic."

"We aren't experiencing the same industrial collapse as in the last wave."

"International supply chains have not been broken this time."

"We are still working on details of the help package for self-employed."

"Fast government-backed credits will be made to companies with less than 10 employees for the first time."

Market reaction

Germany's DAX 30 Index edges slightly higher after these comments and was last seen losing 0.17% on the day at 11,540.