Germany's Robert Koch Institute

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday (21 April) that the European Union needs more power to coordinate the bloc's response to health crises like the coronavirus pandemic, and did not rule out a treaty change to secure them.

Germany's total coronavirus cases topped two million on Jan. 15, as Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed for a "significant" tightening of restrictions to slow the infection rate.

A World Health Organization research mission to China is expected to arrive in Wuhan next month to investigate how the novel coronavirus jumped from animals to humans, and whether it emerged earlier or in a different place than originally thought.