Germany Calls for Coordinated European Response to New Coronavirus Strain

The European Union needs to respond jointly and in a coordinated fashion to a new coronavirus strain that was first reported in Britain to limit its spread to other states, Germany's foreign minister said on Monday.

"We will coordinate very closely among European Union member states on the next steps, in particular on how these measures will be designed beyond Dec. 31," Heiko Maas told a video news conference. It was very important that any regulation be applied in all EU countries that it should be impossible to circumvent, he added.